The Queen in my film !

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Willy
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Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:42 pm
Location: Antwerp Belgium

The Queen in my film !

Post by Willy »

Some time ago I received archive films from the curator of the Passchendaele Museum in Belgium. They are very useful for my film about the First World War in Flanders. The Battle of Passchendaele took place in 1917. More than half a million of soldiers were killed, wounded or missed. In one month time the allied forces could only advance 5 miles in the battle field. Thousands and thousands of British, Canadian, Australian, German and other soldiers perished in the mud of Flanders Fields. Incredible, isn't it ?

This year there are many events in Flanders to commemorate the Battle of Passchndaele or "Passion Dale" as it was called by the allied forces. So it took place exactly 90 years ago. To do a favour in return I promised the organizers of these events - the curator of the Museum is one of them - to film most events in the course of this year. I will not be paid for it but on 12th July the organizers will give me accommodation for one night in Ypres. That day Queen Elisabeth will be in Passchendaele !

The organizers will also give me the best place to film the Queen and also our own Belgian King Albert ! Maybe I can even use these shots for my own film ! Of course I must think about it.

One of the events took place last weekend. A theatre concert in the Cloth Hall of Ypres. It was fantastic ! A Flemish-Irish band sang many songs. One of these songs was even "Will Ye Go to Flanders ?" which will probably be the title of my new film. I got the permission to sit behind a loudspeaker on the stage ! There were about 400 people in that hall, but nobody could see me. Filmmaking is sometimes an adventure.

Some years ago I asked the Irish Nobel Prize Winner John Hume to say something at the end of my film "An Irish Moment". Of course something about peace. Not all the judges seemed to appreciate it. In Belgium one judge said : "I didn't like that 'man' at the end of your film !".

I was a bit disappointed about his opinion. I understand that judges don't like politicians in a film, but 'that 'man' ... John Hume received the Nobel prize ! I was proud that I could persuade him to have an interview with him. In the eighties I offered 40 pupils from Strabane in Northern Ireland a holiday in Belgium and he gave me the address of their head mistress. I must admit that John Hume's office looked a bit in disorder and he was sitting in front of a window. So I had to film with backlighting. Anyway, what he said was very functional for my film. The problem now is : Is the presence of the Queen also functional in my new film ?"

What I miss on this forum are the experiences of other filmmakers. I wonder what 'problems' they have when making films. It seems to me that no one wants to talk about it. (Ian is one of the exceptions.) But why ?
Willy Van der Linden
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stingman
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Post by stingman »

Hello Willy,
With all these War Battles, both sides suffer and you do wonder what it`s all about! It does seem through that one person suddenly gets alot of power and it goes to his head. Because mostly they are doolalee (fruitcases, nutcases!), you never know what they are going to do next. If left out of hand then they can run riot and cause the less fourtunate among ourselves to suffer, Hitler, Idde Armean, The present Russian President, and of course Saddam. I won`t go into politics :roll:
To be honest, I don`t think I could be a soldier, I run away from trouble.
Much of our work is unpaid! Maybe it`s because were kind hearted and like to help people and it gives us expience of filming something different and to learn something new. So we may not gain in money terms (Bummer!), we gain in expierence!

I`ll start a new thread on Adventures!

I`ll exspect your nevous and excitted in filming My Queen and your King. I would be. I would need quite alot of Loo Roll the night before. I do get the runs before a major shoot :lol:
I see now problem in you useing some of your footage in one of your films. Between now and then, I (you) would try and come up with some ideas on future films you could make, and try to film the Queen etc with this in mind. Take alot of tape and just, film, film, film!
If you ever need any help with anything like filming, I would be willing to help sometime.

PS. What does `Van Der` mean!? It seems to be used alot in Dutch names etc.

Thank you as always for your input in film making and your input on this forum. May be I have too much spare time on my hands because I always seem to be on here!
Ian Gardner
Film Maker
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