A Gunners Weekly Roundup 2

We seem to be getting busier and busier - which is incredibly exciting for the Gunners team. We figured the best way to keep our readers up to date was to start a weekly roundup (more a fortnightly roundup but weekly has a nicer ring to it!) 

A few weeks ago we ended our week on a high by taking a group of creatives to dinner at the Hospital Club. This wasn't any old dinner, it was the launch of super-star La Maison Bouffe chef Maria Elia's new cook book 'Smashing Plates'. 

we started with scallops, soutzouki and watermelon and beetroot, apples and feta curd salad

followed by marinated lamb with feta curd, peas and artichokes and topped off with an amazing dessert of chocolate soil and goat milk & green coffee panna cotta. divine.  

Maria went on to appear on Sunday Brunch that weekend and cooked up a storm for a bunch of celebrity guests. One of the guests at our dinner loved the food so much she took home a copy of the book and whipped up the sesame buns the following day! 

While all this was going on Laura, Sheridan and one of our young directors Karel Van Bellingen were in Las Vegas for the LIA awards. They spent a week there immersed in talks, judging and meetings. 

Above: Laura and Sheridan speaking at the LIA's. You can read more about the whole event and the speakers here

Karel had a slightly different LIA experience going as one of the young creatives. LBB caught up with him post Vegas and he spilt the beans on his creative heavy week in the desert. Read all about it here.

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Back in the UK we found out that Ilya Naishuller has been shortlisted for a UK Music Video Award for best International Alternative Music Video for Bad Motherfucker. The awards are next week so watch this space! 

The good news didn't stop there... Sauna International / Great Guns director Mikko took home 3 awards at this years Golden Drum Festival for his spot 'Monsters' for Fragile Childhood - the special prize - virtuoso for Cinematography, a Grand Prix in PR and a Gold for the film. You can watch the amazing case study here.

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We also did a few interviews. The first was director Ram Madhvani speaking to Little Black Book on his new film for Greenlam. 

A fun, charming spot with Bollywood flair, Ram talks to LBB about the whole process. Here's a short blurb from the interview:

LBB> The idea seems to really chime with what's going on in India at the moment - do you see the ad as a political statement?

RM> It’s more of a social statement. If you give people beautiful things they will have better thoughts and therefore they will become better people. Better design leads to a better world. 

Yes, it does resonate with what is happening in our country. The election is around the corner. Though the film is a satire, it is pitched innocently. It's not cynical. It's meant to be charming. 

You can watch the spot and read the rest of the interview here

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The second interview was with 'King of Pilots' David Nutter who spoke to the Directors Guild of America on his amazing career so far.

Packed full of his feats, his advice and how he likes to work, this interview packs a punch and you can read the whole thing here.

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In other news, our director Klaus Thymann has been working with his not-for-profit organisation Project Pressure and has travelled to the Pallin Glacier Tunnel to document the effects of climate change. You can watch the feature on the Guardian website here.

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Turn is continuing its festival round and has just been accepted into the Toronto International Short Film Festival which is Bafta and Oscar recognised as well as the Big Apple Film Festival in New York. You can keep up to date with all the Turn news via Facebook www.facebook.com/turnshortfilm 

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And finally we end this Gunners Weekly Roundup with a screening and cocktail evening for Director Calum Macdiarmid. 

We launched our new website www.greatgunsshorts.com and our hashtag #greatgunsshorts this week by screening Calum's short films Liquid Spirit and The Farm at China Whites prohibition theme lounge Mankind&Reason. 

The evening was enjoyed by creatives and media over Gunners Fizz, Liquid Spirit bottled cocktails and Great Guns branded Truffle Popcorn. 

As always you can keep up to date on daily happenings via our twitter feed @greatgunstv or by facebook www.facebook.com/wearegreatguns 

Check back in a few weeks to catch up on all our latest news! 

A Gunners Weekly Roundup

It's been another busy week at Great Guns - we've been shooting around the UK, prepping for the LIA awards, jetting off to Dusseldorf, doing interviews, screening our short film at Raindance and launching book trailers. 

At the end of last week GG Director Calum Macdiarmid traveled to Dusseldorf for the BBDO Directors Lounge where he showcased his new short Liquid Spirit as well as his new trailer for 'The Farm' the new novel from Tom Rob Smith. 

Calum and Julia at BBDO 

Calum, Kelly and Robert at BBDO 

You can read all about the BBDO Directors Lounge on here on LBB and check out the all the other work that was showcased that evening. 

Calum got back from Dusseldorf and went straight in to making preparations for the launch of 'The Farm' on Vimeo, Facebook and Twitter while also doing a brilliant interview for Shots.  

Here's a short excerpt from Shots:

S: The film is very stylised and visually powerful but doesn't give much away in terms of story; was that a purposeful approach?

C: Yes, very much so, Tom was keen not to give too much away and spoil the book. It’s a detective novel as much as a thriller and from a technical point of view anything too overt could easily have spoiled it.

It was a game of teasing the audience unlike with Hollywood trailers where they tell you the whole story up front. This was perfect for me as I sometimes use a more expressionist style to communicate a sense of emotion and tension. In this way I was able to be more sensitive to the emotion in the writing.

Read the rest of the interview here: Young Macdiarmid had a Farm

You can watch the trailer here: The Farm

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We've started the festival trail with Turn and it kicked off with a screening at LA Short Film Festival at the start of September. This time we were in London at Raindance where Turn took to the screen for a second time...

Turn director Stuart Gillies 

You can follow all things Turn related through our Facebook page: TURN FACEBOOK and you can also watch the trailer here: Turn Trailer

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In other news Guns Director Ron Scalpello wrapped on his 2nd feature Pressure last week and has gone in to post production at Great Guns HQ in London. Screen Daily did a great post on his new film, read it here: Pressure 

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Laura Gregory & Sheridan Thomas are off to Vegas for the LIA awards. Gregory is on the judging panel and both her and Thomas will be speaking alongside some other great creatives. Read about what's coming up at the LIA's this week here: LIA 2013

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To round off a great week, Great Guns and Bang have been shortlisted for 4 Shots awards in the Interactive (Subaru), Branded Content (Neft), Mobile (Nike) and Music (Bridgestone, Bang) categories. Have a look at the complete list here: Shots Awards 2013

Check back next week for brand new Gunners news!