Gillian on jury of BBC Four World Cinema Award 2005
Posted at 11:43 AM (PST) on Thursday, January 27, 2005

BBC FOUR WORLD CINEMA AWARD 2005

BBC Four announces the nominations for the World Cinema Award 2005, as voted by the UK's leading critics, film school heads and exhibitors. The award programme, hosted by Jonathan Ross, will air on Thursday 27 January at 9pm, repeated at midnight.

The jury who will pick the winner of this year's award are Gillian Anderson, Kevin MacDonald, Roger Clarke and Jonathan Ross.

Explore the six nominees using our guide to the shortlist, which features some illuminating director interviews.

The public vote is now closed. Thanks to everyone who voted. There were nearly 4000 entries.

Hero was the public's choice with 32% of the votes.

The award programme, hosted by Jonathan Ross, will be repeated on Tuesday 1 February at 7pm and 11pm, and then at 2am on 2 February.

"The Mighty Celt" Heads Over 100 Films For Dublin Fest
Posted at 6:27 AM (PST) on Thursday, January 27, 2005

Irish Film and Television Network

The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival will feature over 100 films in this years programme that opens with the World Premiere of Pearse Elliott's directorial debut feature "The Mighty Celt" on the 11th of February 2005.

The festival programme was launched in Dublin last night by festival director Michael Dwyer.

More...

For a full festival programme and further info about the festival films, bookings and screening times go to www.dubliniff.com.




More stills are available at:
Monsters and Critics

UK National Doodle Day 2005
Posted at 9:40 AM (PST) on Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Five celebrities reveal their real selves with doodles

Charlotte Higgins, arts correspondent
Wednesday January 26, 2005
The Guardian

It's a guilty secret, but we all do it. We try not to be discovered at it in meetings (though everyone knows that the person crouched in the corner apparently making very detailed notes is guiltiest of all).

All too many of us do it while treasured relations treat us to lengthy exegeses of their lives on the telephone. Some of us find ourselves tempted into it when we should be concentrating on weighty matters such as filling out our tax returns or learning the Highway Code.

In fact, we love to doodle so much that the Neurofibromatosis Association and Epilepsy Action charities have talked a long list of famous folk into scribbling on their behalf and allowing their efforts (however footling, and many are) to be submitted for auction on eBay.co.uk on National Doodle Day, February 25.

"There's very varied artistic ability," said Paul Tranter of Epilepsy Action. "Maureen Lipman's, for instance, is very detailed. David Gower drew a delightful Tuscan scene of table and chairs beneath a vine. It's obviously his chosen way to relax."

Participants - who range from playwright David Hare to actor Gillian Anderson - were given the broad theme of "my favourite thing", from which we might conclude that Lord Tebbit's favourite thing is a very angry-looking set of interlocking triangles, and Joan Collins's is a big-haired glamourpuss with luxuriant eyelashes.

Last year a similar auction raised �15,000; this time the organisers hope to do even better.

The charities are also encouraging members of the public to enter a doodling competition, the winner of which will be given �1,000.

To take part, just go to any branch of Lloydspharmacy and, for a minimum donation of �1, take a card, draw a doodle on the back, stick a stamp on the front and pop your entry in the post.

Doodle cards will be available from your local Lloydspharmacy from Wednesday 26 January and, although Doodle Day itself is on Friday, 25 February. You can still get cards until Tuesday, 8 March. You then have another week in which to submit them for your chance to win �1,000 and a place in the doodle day Hall of Fame!

For lots more information, visit the Official National Doodle Day website. Have fun and, who knows, you may be a winner!

Gillian weds Julian
Posted at 6:23 AM (PST) on Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Gillian Anderson has quietly tied the knot with her longtime boyfriend, former journalist and documentary filmmaker Julian Ozanne, the actress's London rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Guests tell PEOPLE the low-key affair took place on Dec. 29 on Lamu's Shella island, off Kenya's Indian Ocean coast. Anderson, 36, and Ozanne, 42, were married in a civil ceremony by the local district officer and their union was blessed by a Kenyan priest.

The event was attended only by Anderson's immediate family - who had flown over from the U.S. - and a handful of close friends in the gardens of London socialite Kate Barker's Moroccan-style beach house. A Kenyan choir sang hymns in Swahili, and the bridesmaid was Gillian's 10-year-old daughter, Piper, from her previous marriage (to movie art director Clyde Klotz).

After the ceremony, the couple hosted a dinner of fresh lobsters, crab, and king-size prawns, and fireworks and a fire dancer provided the backdrop.

Veteran London Times Africa correspondent Jonathan Clayton, one of the groom's friends, delivered the keynote address and reminisced fondly of their times together covering the African wars of the 1990s when Julian was a correspondent with the London Financial Times.

Clayton said: "I can confirm it took place. It was a spectacular occasion. They were both delighted, but I would rather not go into details."

Peaches, the elephant, has died
Posted at 6:19 AM (PST) on Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Second Lincoln Park Zoo elephant, Peaches, dies

January 19, 2005
By Andrew Herrman
Chicago Sun-Times

North America's oldest captive elephant, brought to Lincoln Park Zoo amid protests that Chicago's climate was too cold, has died.

The 55-year-old female African elephant named Peaches was found Monday morning collapsed on the floor of her indoor pen, her eyes unfocused and her breathing "labored,'' officials said. Veterinarians euthanized the animal Monday evening.

Zoo officials rejected animal rights activists' charges that cold weather and lack of indoor exercise space contributed to the animal's death. In a statement, the zoo said it is "likely" the animal died "from complications due to old age."

Lincoln Park Zoo is considering either shipping out its last remaining elephant -- 36-year-old Wankie -- or hosting a new elephant, said spokeswoman Kelly McGrath.

PETA sought sanctuary

Peaches was sent to Chicago from the San Diego Wild Animal Park in spring 2003 with Wankie and Tatima, another African elephant. Tatima died last October at age 35 in what zoo officials suspect was tuberculosis.

When the animals were brought here, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals warned that the animals would "not last more than few years" at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Animal rights activists renewed their complaints after Tatima's death. Television actress Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files" wrote Mayor Daley and members of the City Council to try to force the zoo to relocate the two remaining animals to the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.

Ray Ryan, who helped care for the elephants at the larger San Diego facility for five years, complained Tuesday that putting the elephants in Lincoln Park "is like me putting you in a closet."

But zoo spokeswoman Kelly McGrath said cold weather and exercise factors had "no bearing" on the deaths. She noted that PETA "elephant specialist" and frequent critic Nicole Meyer is not a trained scientist.

More...

Oxford Student Newspaper Interview
Posted at 10:06 AM (PST) on Saturday, January 15, 2005

This interview took place on November 27, 2004 after Gillian spoke at the Oxford Union.

To read the article published in the 13th January 2005 issue of the Oxford Student newspaper, please click here.

The Mighty Celt Premiere
Posted at 2:09 PM (PST) on Friday, January 14, 2005

The Mighty Celt will premiere at the 55th Berlin Film Festival.

Jan 14, 2005 Press Release:
Programme of the Kinderfilmfest / 14plus for the 55th Berlinale - Pilot Project with Berlin�s Schools

Another festival highlight will be the opening of the Berlinale�s youth film competition 14plus with actor Florian Lukas at the Zoo Palast on February 12, 2005. 14plus will start off by screening Voces Inocentes from Mexico, a politically explosive work in which director Luis Mandoki focuses on child soldiers in El Salvador during the 1980s.

Violence, such as it confronts young people in their private lives and society, is an issue throughout the programme. The vast majority of films viewed by the selection committee do not romanticize childhood or youth. The Kinderfilmfest has no intention of ignoring this tendency and sees this year�s programme as encouragement to take an exact look at things. The brave and self confident way in which young people deal with bare reality in most of the films is reassuring and has a lasting effect.

From Great Britain:
My Summer of Love by Pawel Pawlikowski / 14plus

From Great Britain/Ireland:
The Mighty Celt by Pearse Elliott / 14plus

From Japan:
Hana & Alice by Shunji Iwai / 14plus

From Mexico:
Voces Inocentes (Innocent Voices) by Luis Mandoki / 14plus

From Sweden:
Norrthon and Emil Larsso / 14plus

From Sweden/Finland:
Popul�rmusik fr�n Vittula (Popular Music) by Reza Bagher / 14plus

From Sweden/Norway:
Falla Vackert (Falling Beauty) by Lena Hanno Clyne / 14plus

For more information, click here.