Tchaikovsky in Love
A Dance-Drama Exposé
An awesome film with meaningful content and rich in technicalities. Well deserving of its Best Director award.
The Global India International Film Festival,
Pune, Maharashtra, IndiaAwesome work!
Danny Main, Festival Director,
Canada’s YES! Let’s Make a Movie Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
Congratulations to Ian Woodward on winning the Best Documentary award at the Down East Flick Fest 2018 for Tchaikovsky in Love. The film received this coveted award based on its excellence in artistry, on its craftsmanship, theme, connectivity to our purpose and, above all, its appeal to our audience. Very well done Encore Films UK, director, cast and crew!
Celestine Davis, Festival Director,
The Down East Flick Fest, North Carolina, USA
It was my pleasure to watch this film again. I am not surprised by the judges’ high scores for TCHAIKOVSKY IN LOVE. Well done, Ian Woodward and Encore Films UK!
Aaron Gonzales, Director,
The Pinnacle Film Awards, Hollywood, USA
We are thrilled to announce that Ian Woodward’s exhilarating biopic Tchaikovsky in Love has attracted a whole bunch of impressive reviews from the judges. This unique filmic dance-drama brings together an impressive combination of stylistic cinematography and artistic shots with an attention-grabbing storyline. Encore Films UK, take a bow!
The Festival Director,
The Oregon Cinema Arts Film Festival, USA
Tchaikovsky in Love – Trailer
A Dance-Drama Exposé
Ian Woodward’s beautiful trailer for Tchaikovsky in Love is not only a unique piece of work but also a classy display of creative integrity.
Mike Messier, Festival Director,
The Avalonia Festival, Rhode Island, Washington, USA
The filmmaker has done an incredible job in the writing and directing of this trailer. The editing and cinematography have also been accomplished with commendable expertise, appealing to the eye. We love Tchaikovsky, so the music is beautiful as well. This is a great trailer. It makes you want to see the film! Great job, Ian Woodward!
Aaron Gonzales, Director,
The Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
The superb concise editing in this trailer definitely draws one in. Really good, clever work.
Stevie Doueck, Founding Director,
The Jersey Shore Film Festival, New Jersey, USA
I Love You Truly
Festival Director’s Statement: Well done to filmmaker Ian Woodward and his cast and crew on an amazing film. Ian Woodward is a really great writer, with an awesome singular vision. I loved how his poetry was modernized with references to social media. The cinematography was beautiful and the actors did an excellent job at showing true love. The editing flowed well. The score matched the genre beautifully. Overall, I LOVE YOU TRULY is an amazing piece of work by an exceptionally gifted writer-director.
Aaron Gonzales, Festival Director,
The Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
We received over 1600 submissions from the US, Brazil, China, Canada, France, India, Iran, New Zealand, Romania, Australia, Mexico, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Ireland, the Russian Federation, and the UK – an incredible amount of phenomenal work. Your film, I LOVE YOU TRULY, was one of the few chosen, so feel proud. Your talent blew us away!
The Festival Director,
The World Film Festival San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, USA
I Love You Truly…wow! an awesome film.
Danny Main, Festival Director,
Canada’s YES! Let’s Make a Movie Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
English filmmaker Ian Woodward is an artist. His writing, which he brings to life so well in his directing, is spectacular. I love how poetic I Love You Truly is. The film’s actors are natural and look the part for their characters. The cinematography is brilliant at capturing all of the beauty in each scene. The editing flows wonderfully and is true to the genre. The score is wonderful and brings out the emotions nicely. Excellent work, Ian Woodward and Encore Films UK!
Festival Director,
The Mindfield Film Festival – Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
This is romantic filmmaking on a grand scale with enthusiastic performances, virtuoso camerawork, and much else in its favour.
We love the Storyteller’s introductory speech, setting the scene with a narrator whose voice reminds us of Richard Burton. Some of the wonderful, sweeping, colourful drone photography is breathtaking. There are also some good slow tracking shots. One of us commented that the film “has polish in places where it matters”.
The two main leads, Charlotte Frost and Richard Mark, are photogenic, attractive and very suitable choices to play the lovers. They convince as a loving couple and have good, clear voices and expressive faces. Steve Carroll, who plays the vicar at the wedding, is also well cast and does a fine job with his short role.
We very much like the use of colour, the locations, and the shots of fauna and flora – for example, the kingfisher, the flowers and the hovering kestrel.
The unusual decision to lip-sync isolated phrases from the script slightly bothered one of the judges but the other two thought it worked well. We had mixed feelings about the short sequence in black and white, wondering whether this really worked and whether it was necessary.
Having said all that, this is a film of great vision, made by a highly talented writer/director. The poetic script is cleverly written and is a substantial piece of work in its own right.
The style of the film reminds us of some of the work of the hugely regarded film director Terrence Malick, especially his film To the Wonder
All in all, we are very impressed by I Love You Truly. Everyone involved in the making of the film can feel very proud of their achievements. This is a memorable piece of work and we feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to see it.
Judging Panel Representative,
BIAFF 2017, UK
Thank you for your wonderful film, I Love You Truly. We were thrilled to receive it. Everyone here very much looks forward to seeing it on the big screen at The Best-of-the Best Gala screenings show on the last day of our festival.
Festival Coordinator,
The Dodowa International Film Festival, Dodowa, Ghana
Sacred! Music From the Heart
The English writer-director Ian Woodward has won a great reputation for creating visually stunning films with beautiful music. Sacred! Music from the Heart, as we have now come to expect from this renowned filmmaker, is a compelling tour-de-force of cinematic magic which, not surprisingly, adds to his already phenomenal status. It is very well produced from beginning to end.
Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Festival, Hollywood, USA
Sacred! Music From the Heart is a very inspirational film. Congratulations to English filmmaker Ian Woodward and his actors, choir and crew who contributed to the making of this hugely uplifting film. The Christian Film Festival was proud to showcase it as a world premiere.
Richard Collins, Festival Director,
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
Your film has been officially selected for the Harrogate Film Festival. After over 400 submissions, from 40 countries, it is a great achievement for Sacred! Music from the Heart to be chosen as one of the 39 films we are screening. Congratulations!
Adam Chandler, Managing Director,
The Harrogate Film Festival, Yorkshire, UK
I’ll Walk with God
A Musical Romance
Ian Woodward is quite a filmmaker. I really enjoyed watching I’ll Walk with God. I agree with the judges that this is an outstanding film.
Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Awards, Hollywood, USA
I’ll Walk with God is a strong addition to the American Filmatic Arts Awards selection and we are pleased to be making the award to Encore Films (UK). This year (2017) our selection was very competitive and we consider I’ll Walk with God to be one of the greatest among all films submitted.
H.Subentekin and Y.Tikhonovaco, Founders
The American Filmatic Arts Awards, New York City, USA
I’ll Walk with God is a wonderful short film and musical romance. See it at The Christian Film Festival on 27 February 2016 in Virginia, USA. We can’t wait to show it. Thank you to all of the amazing people who made and were in this film: you did a wonderful job. This film is awesome!
Richard Collins, Festival Director,
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
Your film, I’ll Walk with God, is a great work of cinematic art and you should be proud of it.
Jesse Petrick
The Classical Arts Film Festival, Napa, California
This uplifting movie tells the story of the Reverend Jim Watson, known as the “Singing Vicar”, who leaves his glamorous life as an opera singer in America to become the Pastor at a small church in England. While there, he meets and falls in love with Emma Crawford who lives nearby. This absorbingly heartfelt movie shows us that God has a plan for each of us and that even if your life experiences changes (big, small, good, or bad) they are all part of that plan. Another captivating character in the film is Holly Watson, the vicar’s actress daughter, who befriends Emma. In the film we also get to see and hear the awesome Encore Films Choir. This emotional, well-observed tearjerker of a movie was written and directed by Ian Woodward and stars Norman Bowman as Rev Jim Watson, Virginia Byron as Emma Crawford and Claire Heverin as Holly Watson. The movie’s stunning poster was created by the filmmaker’s interior-architect daughter, Stefanie Woodward.
Richard Collins, Festival Director
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
Congratulations to everyone who was in and worked on the amazing I’ll Walk with God. It is a 2016 Christian Film Festival award-winner for Best Short Film, Best Actor (Norman Bowman), Best Actress (Virginia Byron), Best Supporting Actress (Claire Heverin), Best Director (Ian Woodward), Best Producer (Encore Films), Best Sound (Paul Richardson), Best Costume Design (Anna Carpozi), Best Hair & Make-up (Caroline Peberdy), Best Movie in the Audience Vote category, Best Actress in the Audience Vote category, Best Supporting Actress in the Audience Vote category, Best Director in the Audience Vote category and Best Producer in the Audience Vote category. It also the recipient of the Christian Film Festival’s special Inspire Award for the Encore Films Choir whose singing throughout the musical is so uplifting. I’ll Walk with God has great acting, great drama, great music, poignant romance, and is family friendly. The film states up front that it is “a musical romance”, and, boy, does it deliver! We have been so blessed to have I’ll Walk with God in our film festival. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen. Well done!
Richard Collins, Festival Director
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
I’ll Walk with God is the kind of big, emotional production not often seen in our filmmaking world – and therefore comes as a welcome surprise. And there is probably nothing quite like a musical to invoke mixed emotions and reactions in an audience. Do the sudden bursts of song work well or are they forced and unreal? The view of this judge is that, of course they are unreal but in watching drama – of any kind – you have to be prepared to suspend a certain amount of belief. If you can do it for other genres such as, say, vampires, sci-fi, surrealism, the paranormal, then why not here? With such an idealistic, romantic concept, anyway, you are never going to please everybody!
So ignoring any musical “doubters”, it is important to say that one judge said: “This film moved me to tears”. He added: “The choice of songs was very emotional and the production had a knack of touching a nerve.”
However, although not avoiding a forced “unreal musical” effect, it ingeniously blended in with the action, no more so than in the church scenes with the choir, which are the most successful – and genuinely powerful – in the whole film. Other commanding spots: the marriage sequence, with balloons and confetti floating down; the “No more treatment” scene, given extra dynamism by tighter framing and close-ups; and the “Thank you for the music” montage.
The titles, beginning and end, give the film a “big” feeling. Overall, this is a hugely ambitious project and the team deserves very, very great praise
Judging Panel Representative,
BIAFF 2016, UK
I’ll Walk with God is superbly photographed and a monument in effort to everyone involved. For me it would have to be 5-star for sheer commitment. Well done everyone – and wow!
Robert Lorrimer,
award-winning UK filmmaker
I’ll Walk with God is some film! A very tricky topic has been tackled – with music – and a real gem has been created. I can well understand why it has won so many accolades and awards all around the world. Well done, Ian! Keep up the good work.
Mike Shaw,
award-winning UK filmmaker
I’ll Walk with God – The Trailer
A Musical Romance
Festival Director’s Statement: Very nice trailer! I’m intrigued. I really like the story and would love to see the complete film. The trailer was beautiful and the cinematography brought the writing to life. The editing was cut expertly. The actors played their parts very well. Another great piece of filmmaking from the highly regarded English director Ian Woodward. Excellent work.
Aaron Gonzales, Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Awards, Online, USA
Adoration
A Natural History
Writer-director Ian Woodward submits beautiful work! This film is truly a breath of fresh air. It makes you appreciate the beauty around us which we tend to take for granted. Stunning visuals with beautiful music and poetry.
Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Festival, Hollywood, USA
A formidable work. Absolutely stunning photography. And a great title theme-song from the film’s young artist, Kim May.
Robert Lorrimer,
international award-winning UK filmmaker
Congratulations to Adoration: A Natural History! The Christian Life International Film Festival recognizes film, television, videography and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Winning the prestigious Award of Merit at the Christian Life International Film Festival (CLIFF) is something you can be proud of. It means that the craft and skill exhibited in Adoration: A Natural History is outstanding and stands above other productions in the competition. Your exciting wildlife docudrama features an exceptional storyline, locations, visuals and sound along with fine acting by Kim May in the role of Nature Woman. The goal of CLIFF is to help winners achieve the recognition they deserve and, in winning the Award of Merit, you, Ian Woodward, and Encore Films, have joined the exulted ranks of previous high-profile winners of this internationally respected award. Entries are received from around the world from powerhouse film-production companies to remarkable new talent. CLIFF helps set the standard for craft, creativity and message and we are thrilled to have screened an exceptional high-quality film like Adoration: A Natural History.
Florin Marksteiner, Festival Director,
The Christian Life International Film Festival, Ontario, Canada
Although Adoration is ostensibly a film about the seasons, it also contains a subtle, hidden religious message. The film strives to show that nature is every bit a place of worship as a cathedral made in stone. Adoration, the film’s title, stems from the religious sense: an aspect of worship. The film’s heroine, Nature Woman, feels “at one” with both God – hence the Crucifix that is always close to her – and the natural world around her. It is accompanied by beautiful, inspiring music and the filmmaker’s screenplay-in-verse. Nature Woman, played by London actress Kim May, is the physical embodiment of the film’s imagery and sentiments. You are going to be truly amazed when you see this nature film which has awesome close-up scenes of all the birds and animals and plants that are found in nature, and acknowledges that God created them for us to enjoy! This wonderful film was written and directed by Ian Woodward and stars Kim May as Nature Woman. Congratulations to everyone who made this film happen – you did a wonderful job! A cool movie..
Richard Collins, Festival Director
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
Love Song
The Triumph and Tragedy of Tchaikovsky
This movie is a masterpiece.
Dr Mario Kraiger, Deputy Festival Director,
The Golden Diana International Film Festival, Austria
Award-winning filmmaker Ian Woodward has once again brought a gem to the table with this film. Love Song is educational with exquisite entertainment for the eyes and ears.
Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Festival, Hollywood, USA
The filmmaker has done a fine job of evoking the historical period of Tsarist Russia. And some of the scenes – not least when Tchaikovsky confronts his lover’s family after his death – are heart-wrenching.
Judging Panel Coordinator,
The Highway 61 Film Festival, Minnesota, United States
I’ve just watched your amazing film. I can only say I am stunned at the immensity of it all, the superb production values, the excellent lighting, the sets, the locations, the acting – everything. This is a major epic. The accompanying film, The Behind-the-Scenes Story, documenting how Love Song was made, is equally stunning, fascinating and revealing: the attention to detail, the amount of work that went into each and every scene…I could enthuse on and on endlessly! You are to be well and truly congratulated on a magnificent piece of work. I will be watching it all again before long – always on a second viewing there are other nuances and scenes to admire that get missed the first time. Congratulations on a truly superb movie!
Mike Shaw,
award-winning UK filmmaker
I worked with some memorable people in 2013, including author and filmmaker Ian Woodward, a true gentleman and old-school Auteur and writer. I learned a lot from him when making Love Song.
Stephen Carroll,
Tsar Alexander III of all the Russias in Love Song
This is a very ambitious production. The opening shots set the scene in a dramatic way, with appropriate titles. Photography and camerawork is first-rate throughout and the dialogue is well spoken. Music is used to great advantage and enhances the emotion expressed in the visuals. The subject has obviously been well researched. There is also great attention to detail in the costumes and locations, and the quality of the acting is brilliant, all of which adds to the authenticity of the film. Good editing gives Love Song the right pace and there are some outstanding visual effects. The dance episode is especially well done. The sequence of icicles over water is a very good way to close the film. This is an excellent film which the judging panel found very absorbing. Congratulations
Judging Panel Representative,
BIAFF 2014
Love Song – Trailer
The Triumph and Tragedy of Tchaikovsky
This is an incredible trailer with amazing writing and directing. The music score makes it seem compellingly epic – which I love – and it’s made me all the more curious to see the film itself. The actors are natural and believable, the cinematography is beautiful, the visual effects work a treat and the editing is smooth. Editing a trailer, of course, is a craft in itself. All told, awesome work.
Festival Director,
The Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque,` USA
The Red Rose
A musical fantasy for the child in all of us
This is a great film…it feels at times like we are watching a Motion Picture Opera. Brilliant work!
Festival Director,
The Pinnacle Film Festival, Hollywood, USA
Ian Woodward is no stranger to the festival submitting this year a colourful fantasy called The Red Rose. A movie of a young girl’s dream of one day marrying her Prince Charming. His movie was awarded a Bronze Cineman trophy and judged Best Film in the General Section.
The Melbourne International Movie Festival 2013
Well done! You have thrown every trick in the book at this one…but the young leading lady still steals it.
Robert Lorrimer,
international award-winning UK filmmaker
This magical film creates a wonderful fantasy world. The film is very beautiful and the filmmaker uses excellent special effects. He sets the scenes to gorgeous and appropriate music. The central characters act very well: she [Jessie Talulah], in a haze of love and fantasy; he [Nicholas Anscombe], her dream fantasy figure, who is always smiling. She, I thought, acted beautifully, and the use of the camera on her face was excellent. The third judge felt that the charm of the young couple was one of the film’s strongest points. The dancing girls were a joy, and their changes of costume added to the pleasure. The use of green screen and varying opacity was very, very effective. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with swans in the water and the little toy swans on the bird bath dissolving to the Young Man’s face. The swan ballet dancer [Chloe Hayward] was lovely to watch and her dancing on the Girl’s hand was a high point in the film. The voice [narrator Phil Sayer] was a pleasant one and his words were well delivered and well recorded. The use of costumes and of colour was excellent. The film felt very fresh. The colour was rich. There were many delightful ideas packed into this feel-good film. I loved the use of wildlife footage: such variety and so well filmed, so well woven into the fantasy. The cinematography was of a very high standard throughout. What I will remember about this film is the extraordinary creativity which led to a truly magical experience.
Judging Panel Representative,
BIAFF 2013
This was a playful and engaging film that possessed a terrific feast of visual ideas and images. The disciplined choreography offered by the young dancers and performers kept the whole film fresh and lively throughout. All the facets that go to make a good film – camerawork, sound, music, editing, structure, dancing and acting – were here in abundance. The film maintained a good pace throughout, as it took us on a musical journey through the seasons, with its excellent close-ups of animals, flowers and birds. All the sequences that featured special visual effects – such as the ballerina dancing in the Girl’s cupped hands, the dream sequences and the other superimpositions – were well executed. It is more than apparent that everyone involved in the production of The Red Rose thoroughly enjoyed making this movie – a fact that leapt out of the screen at us as we judged it.
Fourth Member of the Judging Panel,
BIAFF 2013
Silly Robin
A true story
Congratulations to Ian Woodward, creator of the documentary Silly Robin, chosen in August 2016 for Official Selection in the Christian Film Festival. This film is awesome. Audiences will cheer for the bird on the film’s poster…by the end of this documentary, we guarantee it! One morning in the early autumn the lives of English naturalist Ian Woodward, FZS, and his garden-loving wife Zenka were suddenly changed. In their country garden near London they were befriended by a robin, England’s national bird. It was the start of an amazing relationship between man and bird that would provoke smiles and induce tears. It was a friendship that would arose tenderness and stir up emotions of wonder, admiration, and trust. “When bird trusts man,” says the filmmaker, “be proud.” Zenka and Ian, a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, called the red and brown songster “Silly Robin”. The film reveals repeatedly how the bird kept visiting the garden, always hanging out there. But then one day he stopped coming to the garden and the Woodwards were worried something happened to their little friend. Something did happen, but it was alright. When Silly Robin finally returned he had a serious leg injury. This would have been the end of a normal bird, but not this one. On the poster we can see Silly Robin with his injured leg which is thicker than the other one. Silly Robin survived his injury. Everyone was so happy! Not only that, but he had met a lady bird and they had had a family. Silly Robin returned to the garden with his son, a great looking little speckled bird, to show his friends the Woodwards that everything was okay. And that was the end of the movie! At the start of this review we said you would cheer for this bird, and we meant it. When Silly Robin returns to the garden with his son you can’t help but love this bird and this documentary. Congratulations Mr. Woodward and everyone (human and bird) who helped to make this movie. It is amazing film and shows us that the birds God created are very intelligent! God bless.
Richard Collins, Festival Director,
The Christian Film Festival, Virginia, USA
Your movie Silly Robin was the rightful recipient of the Bronze Camera 300 Award as testified by the fact that it attracted so much delighted attention from the festival audience.
Stefan Hadzi Andonovski, Artistic Director,
FADF “Camera 300” Festival, Bitola, Macedonia
Of all the films I saw over the weekend, Silly Robin was one of my favourites…what a good story. We liked the lovely opening shot of a golden September dawn and the excellent big close-ups of some of the wildlife in the garden such as the wood mouse, frog and squirrel. There was also the lovely shot of the chaffinch sitting on a branch, singing his heart out! The film was well structured with good production values and it succeeded very well in making us care for “Silly Robin”. The narration was informative, well delivered with a sympathetic voice. The camerawork was excellent and it must have taken considerable time and patience to collect all the material to make this movie. The editing was good and kept the film moving along, telling the story. The film worked so well that we felt sadness when “Silly Robin” was injured and, like the filmmaker, we thought he would not survive. Therefore, we too were very happy when he re-appeared at a later date. This was a very enjoyable film with a “feel good” factor and one that I would love to see again. Our thanks to Ian Woodward for entering this film and letting us all enjoy his wonderful experience.
Judging Panel Representative,
BIAFF 2012
My wife was impressed by Ian Woodward’s film Silly Robin. Indeed, a very entertaining film…a pleasant one.
Willy Van der Linden (Antwerp, Belgium),
Seoul silver medal winner 2011
On September 13, 2013, we will be screening Silly Robin, a sweet 15-minute British film by Ian Woodward about an amazing relationship between man and bird that will make you smile.
The Second Friday Spiritual Cinema,
The Centre for Spiritual Living, Morristown, New Jersey, United States
Too Many Ghosts
A morality tale on the folly of war
The International Film Festival “Love a Man” takes place in Oswiecim (better known under its WW2 German name Auschwitz), in Poland, which means the festival’s title is not implying what you might otherwise have thought. It deals with the way people deal with other people. Only one British film was selected for screening, Ian Woodward’s Too Many Ghosts. This film has had success at several festivals and is being shown 13 times between 5 December and 24 February at the Imperial War Museum in London. Ian commented:
Never in a million years, when I was making the film, did I expect that audiences would be watching it in both a London war museum and in the former Auschwitz. The thought of it is quite spine-numbing.
The IAC, UK
Too Many Ghosts is a truly wonderful film. So creative and well thought out. I love how the colour film is interspersed with old black-and-white footage. Ian Woodward has given us a look at war in quite a unique way. I love everything about the film: the actors, the voice-overs, the music, the cinematography. The way everything has been woven together with poetry too is beautiful – as is the film-maker’s little show-stealer of a granddaughter, Eva, who plays my Child of Hope just as I imagined her when writing my poem A Wish. That Eva actually looks at her hand when those words of the poem referring to hands are spoken gave me goosebumps. Bravo!
Maxine Kendall, English-born, Canada-based poet whose poem,
A Wish, features in the film
I found Too Many Ghosts very interesting to watch. The early montages of warfare were particularly well done, very professional. Another highlight was the reading of the poem with the film-maker’s granddaughter, Eva, as the Child of Hope. The cast did very well.
David Roberts, Editor, The War Poetry Website
On 26 January 2012, on the very day that German chancellor Angela Merkel was seen on worldwide TV laying a wreath at a ceremony in Berlin to commemorate the closing of the Nazi death- camp Auschwitz, Too Many Ghosts was being screened at the Imperial War Museum in London and at Auschwitz in Poland to commemorate the very same thing.
Congratulations on Too Many Ghosts receiving its London and UK premiere last Monday, 5 December, at the 11th Annual Imperial War Museum Film Festival. That’s fantastic success. To be shown at the Imperial War Museum is a real honour. It must make producing films even more irresistible.
David Roberts, Editor, The War Poetry Website
From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields
The Silent World of Bedřich Smetana
This is an extraordinary film. The screenplay, camera work, editing, use of music and sound generally, including the sensitive delivery of the narrator, makes this a masterpiece of film creation.
Ladislav Františ, Czech film festival president
From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields depicts the natural, vast woods and fields of Bohemia with inventive use of light in a perfect harmony and the jury was unanimous in awarding the film the Best Cinematography prize.
Mun-Jin Jo, Jury Chairman, The Seoul International Film Festival 2011
This is a unique documentary: a film made by an Englishman with a Czech heart.
Prague film festival jury member
From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields – wow! This is an awesome film. I was enraptured with both the beauty of the music and the brilliance of the cinematography. This is the kind of film that should be shown in schools as both art and a teaching tool.
Maxine Kendall, English-born, Canada-based poet
Congratulations, Ian! Your documentary From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields was deservedly one of the top films at The Seoul International Film Festival 2011.
Willy Van der Linden (Antwerp, Belgium),
Seoul silver medal winner 2011
I watched this film with great interest: stunning scenes of the Czech countryside accompanied by the most outstanding compositions of Bohemia’s master composer. I greatly admire the way the film-maker has portrayed our beautiful Czech music in this extraordinarily poetic way. The film is a work of great creative art.
Petr Bohaty, Stage Director,
Jablonec Municipal Theatre, North Bohemia
How can an artist overcome a profound disability and find worldwide recognition? This documentary uncovers the story of Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, who wrote some of his most beautiful music following deafness. Filmed entirely in Bohemia, with beautiful nature photography, sweeping panoramas, and native dancers. For classical music lovers and nature lovers, a must-see.
Awaken! International Spiritual Film Festival, New Jersey, USA
AFTERWORD
A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end…but not necessarily in that order.
Jean-Luc Godard
I would travel down to Hell and wrestle a film away from the Devil if it was necessary.
Werner Herzog
If my films make one more person miserable, I’ve done my job.