London calling

Film fans will be looking to London for the next two weeks to discover the best in UK cinema at the London Film Week in Beijing. The festival will include exclusive showings of seven feature films and two documentaries created since 1966, in addition to a host of screen talks. Renowned British director Stephen Frears, a guest of the Beijing Film Academy, gave lectures for students at the opening ceremony on December 5.

Having made a name for himself in the feature-film genre in the mid-'80s, Frears today enjoys the same fame in both Britain and Hollywood.

His most notable films deal with outsiders on the margin of society and exhibit insight and compassion rather than simple sentiment.

Frears helmed a few made-for-TV movies since he began his career in 1971, and in 1985, he got his big break when directing My Beautiful Laundrette, which earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination. Frears' following films proved to be some of the most successful of his career.

Three of Frears' creations will be shown at the London Film Week, including the opening film, The Queen.

Scripted by Peter Morgan, the 2006 film comically, yet sympathetically, delves into the aftermath of Princess Diana's 1997 death. Bolstered by Helen Mirren's universally acclaimed performance as Queen Elizabeth II, the film enjoyed a healthy art-house run through the awards season, when Frears earned a slew of Best Director nominations from critics' organizations and the Golden Globe Awards.

Dangerous Liaisons, his adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, won a number of international honors. As the director's most opulent piece to date, it was an elegant, witheringly cynical tragicomedy that boasted an Oscar-winning script by Christopher Hampton and deliciously nasty lead performances from John Malkovich and Glenn Close. Close went on to earn an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the scheming Marquise de Merteuil.

The Snapper (1993) is a made-for-TV BBC production based on the book by Roddy Doyle. Focusing on a teenage pregnancy, the film offers a convincing, whimsy-free portrait of working-class life in Ireland.

In addition, Danny Boyle, director of the zombie-packed hit 28 Days Later and the cult classic Trainspotting, advances his genre-tweaking career with the futuristic sci-fi film Sunshine.

And Alfie, released by Lewis Gilbert in 1966, is considered one of the most influential movies of that decade. It's credited with serving as a classic case study of society in the '60s and for introducing London to the world at a crucial time in its development.

The London Film Week also includes Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 Oscar nominee, Blowup, which made him a symbol of art-house cinema.

The Snapper

It is Stephen Frears' adaptation of the second book in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy. The Curley family is a poor, eccentric and loving Irish family. The eldest daughter Sharon (Tina Kellegher) announces she is pregnant but refuses to disclose the father's identity. Her father, Dessie (Colm Meaney), is supportive but begins to chafe at the derisive gossip aimed at his family and his daughter. This leads to a confrontation between the two that is, like the rest of the movie, simultaneously funny and sad. The family waits in the hospital as Sharon gives birth to the "snapper" (Irish slang for an infant). A bittersweet slice of Irish life, The Snapper contains very human characters brought to life with beautifully nuanced performances, writing and direction. December 20, 7pm.

Sunshine

As the sun begins to dim along with mankind's hope for the future, it's up to a desperate crew of eight astronauts to travel to the dying star and reignite the fire that will bring planet Earth back to life. This tense, psychological sci-fi thriller re-teams 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle with writer Alex Garland and producer Andrew Macdonald, and Macdonald will be on-hand to discuss the film in Beijing. The skies are darkening, and the outlook for planet Earth is grim. Although the encroaching darkness at first seems unstoppable, scientists have concocted one desperate, last-ditch plan to buy the human race a temporary reprieve from the grim future that looms just past the horizon. A crew of eight men and women has been given a nuclear device designed to literally reignite the sun, and they are sent hurdling through infinity on the most crucial space mission ever attempted. Suddenly, as the crew loses radio contact with mission control, everything begins to fall apart. Now, in the darkest reaches of the galaxy, the men and women who may hold the key to ultimate survival find themselves struggling for not only their lives but also their sanity. Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy and Michelle Yeoh star in a film that asks audiences just what would become of mankind if the sky suddenly went black.

December 21, 7pm.

Blowup

The film reflects writer/director Michelangelo Antonioni's view of the world of mod fashion and is also an engaging, provocative murder mystery examining the existential nature of reality through photography. Antonioni's first English-language flick, it quickly became one of the most important films of its decade and a milestone of liberalized attitudes toward nudity and expressions of sexuality in film. It was nominated for two Academy Awards.

December 23, 3pm.

Alfie

Lewis Gilbert's Alfie made quite a splash upon release in 1966, garnering good reviews and six Academy Award nominations. This is the dark, comic fable of a Cockney who wallows in his bachelor lifestyle. In a role that garnered him international acclaim, Michael Caine is brilliant as the title character, a playboy who bests women for sport and whose aloofness leads to the alienation of everyone around him. Alfie is funny and tragic by turns, a character study of a lady's man whose rakishness hides a whole mess of insecurities. Based on the play by Bill Naughton, the film received nominations for Best Picture for the Academy Award and a Best Actor for Caine.

December 22, 3pm.

London

Patrick Keiller's fascinating, inventive 1994 film walks a fine line between fiction and documentary. The mysterious and unseen narrator, Robinson (voiced by Paul Scofield), takes viewers through a year in London, providing literate commentary and history lessons throughout. Architect-cum-director Keiller made a companion film with 1997's Robinson in Space.

December 23, 6pm.

Dangerous Liaisons

Set in France around 1760-1770. The Marquise de Merteuil needs a favor from her ex-lover, Vicomte de Valmont. Marquise de Merteuil's ex-lover, Gercourt, is planning on marrying a young, virtuous woman named Cecile de Volanges. The Marquise would like Valmont to seduce Cecile before her wedding day. Meanwhile, Valmont has a conquest of his own in mind, Madame de Tourvel, a beautiful, married and God-fearing woman. The Marquise doesn't think that Valmont can do it; she tells him that if he can provide written proof of a sexual encounter with Madame de Tourvel, she will offer him a reward - one last night with her. But Valmont finds himself falling in love with Mrs de Tourvel, enticing the deadly jealousy of the Marquise de Merteuil. Dangerous Liaisons - Stephen Frears' first Hollywood film, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer - won three Oscars for art direction, costume design and adapted screenplay.

December 22, 6pm.

Films will be shown at China Film Archive. No 3, Wenhuiyuanlu, Xiaoxitian, Haidian District. 25 yuan for each film. 6224-1787 or 8229-6266.