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Gt. Britain

2009

Danny Boyle and Christian Colson, the director and producer of Slumdog Millionaire, hit back at accusations that the film exploited two child actors. [MORE]

Slumdog Millionaire wins four Richard Attenborough Film Awards, including best film and filmmaker of the year. [MORE]

Hunger wins the Best Film award at the 2009 London Evening Standard Film Awards, while the Best Director Award goes to Stephen Daldry for The Reader. [MORE]

Darren Aronofsky’s film The Wrestler is named Film of the Year at the 2009 London Film Critics Circle Awards ceremony, and Mickey Rourke wins the Best Actor award for his role in the film.   Slumdog Millionaire is the biggest winner on the night, however, scooping four awards.  [MORE]

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire wins six awards, including Best Film and Best Director at the 2009 BAFTA Awards ceremony.   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button wins three awards. [MORE]

Zack Snyder’s $120 million (£83.65 million) superhero epic Watchmen, which is based on the 1980s graphic novel by British writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, receives its world premiere in London. [MORE] [ADD]

Prison officials demand an enquiry into how a voice recording of violent prison inmate Charles Bronson came to be played at the premiere of a new film about his life. [MORE]

Tom Hooper’s The Damned United, a semi-factual account of iconic football manager Brian Clough’s brief reign at Leeds United in the mid-70s is released.   The film, which is based on a contentious novel by David Peace, performs well in its opening weekend and earns favourable reviews. [MORE] [ADD]

Cinematographer Jack Cardiff dies at his home in Ely, Cambridgeshire following a short illness at the age of 94.   He won an Academy Award for Black Narcissus (1846) and an honorary Oscar in 2001. [MORE] [ADD]

Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play, in which Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck star, takes £1.5 million in its opening weekend. [MORE] [ADD]

The new Star Trek movie takes £6 million at the box office in its first four days. [MORE] [ADD]

Ken Loach leads a protest against the Edinburgh Film Festival’s decision to accept a £300 grant from the Israeli Embassy to cover the travel costs of Israeli director Tali Shalom-Ezer whose film, Surrogate, is to be screened at the festival in June. [MORE]

Gary Sinyor, the winner of the 1992 award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival, hands back his award in protest at the Festival’s rejection of a £300 donation from the Israeli embassy following calls from director Ken Loach for the 2009 festival to be boycotted if the donation is accepted. [MORE]

Pinewood Shepperton submits its planning application for an estimated £200 million expansion of its Iver Heath studios following what it describes as extensive public consultation in the wake of concerns voiced in 2008 over the size of the development. [MORE] [ADD]

Universal announces that Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest outrageous comedy, Bruno, will be released in an edited ‘15’ certificate version on 24^th July 2009 to allow younger fans to enjoy the film..  The ‘18’ certificate version was released on 10^th July 2009, enjoying the highest-ever grossing opening weekend for an 18-rated film. [MORE] [ADD]

The Sunday Times publishes a list of the world’s top ten movie website.  Strangely, Movie Movie fails to make the list…  [MORE]

Sally Potter’s new film, Rage, which stars Jude Law, Dame Judi Dench and Steve Buscemi is released on iPods and iPhones in seven daily instalments at the same time that it is released in cinemas. [MORE] [ADD]  

The government announces it will contribute £45 million towards a new National Film Centre to be built on London’s South Bank by 2015.   The new building is expected to have five digital screens and an auditorium capable of hosting such prestigious events as the gala opening of the London Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD]

Pinewood’s plans for a £198 million expansion of its studio is derailed by South Buckinghamshire District Council’s rejection of its application because it would mean building on Green Belt land. [MORE] [ADD]

1 Day, Penny Woolcock’s low budget street gang drama set on the streets of Birmingham sparks controversy when a West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable accuses it of glamorising violence, and multiplexes claim police advised them against showing the film. [MORE]

A previously unknown Charles Chaplin film is found in a tin purchased on the eBay auction site.   The film, called Zepped, is believed to be a WWI propaganda film using excerpts from films Chaplin made for Essanay. [MORE]

Actor and war hero Richard Todd, most famous for his role in the war film The Dam Busters, dies of cancer at his home near Grantham at the age of 90.   He was one of the first British soldiers to parachute into France on D-Day. [MORE] [ADD]

Duncan Jones’ film Moon wins Best Film and Debut Director Awards at the British Independent Film Awards. [MORE]

The premiere of sci-fi extravaganza Avatar, director James Cameron’s first film since Titanic, takes place at Leicester Square.   Those joining the director include Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington. [MORE] [ADD]