Belated Film Festival Snaps

Looking at my blog earlier today and cursing myself for neglecting it for so long, I realised one of my last entries was 'Part One' of what I had intended as a series of London Film Festival blogs. A festival devotee, I attend every year - sometimes with a press pass, but always with a stack of tickets I've bought for myself. Last year I was lucky enough to receive press credentials and provided a series of newspaper and internet articles for the Yellow Advertiser, Britain's largest regional newspaper series.

Part Two of my blog series, however, never materialised. Now, as the BFI begins announcing gala screenings for the 2014 festival, I am finally uploading a selection of my pictures from the 2013 galas. They include pictures from the premieres and press conferences for Gravity, Philomena and Saving Mr Banks - featuring stars including Tom Hanks, Dame Judi Dench, Steve Coogan and Emma Thompson.

Enjoy!

Film Festival - Part One - 'Hanks for the Memories'

The London Film Festival is upon us once more. Those who have been following my blog for a while will know that I am a huge fan and avid supporter of the annual event, organised by the British Film Institute. In 2010 I was an official correspondent, covering the festival for two American websites - Sawf News and the Huffington Post. This year I am covering it for one of the UK's largest regional newspaper chains, the Yellow Advertiser.

My festival calendar kicked off on Wednesday with a press conference for 'Captain Phillips', the new true-story Tom Hanks movie about a US cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates. Mr Hanks was very funny, if somewhat unwilling to answer some questions seriously. He experienced a sustained grilling from Britain's cheeky showbiz reporters, but handled the onslaught well. I filed a report about the event last night, published today.

Click here to read my dispatch from the press conference.

Click to enlarge.
Copyright: Charles Thomson

I took this picture at the press conference yesterday. For some reason, it looks like Tom Hanks is crying. He wasn't. It's just one of those funny moments where a camera catches somebody's face halfway through doing something else.

Here are some of my other shots:

Click pics to enlarge.
All pics, Copyright: Charles Thomson.

More on my festival adventures as and when more reports are published.