The festival includes a satellite Q&A session with Sir David Attenborough.If you’re interested in ballet, opera or film, there’s a chance to see films and documentaries during the 2-week festival.

It runs from 29th July through to the 11th August and includes a UK premiere of the newly-renovated 1966 version of Swan Lake, starring Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. The opera strand includes the ‘Three Tenors’ concert from 1990.

Lyn Goleby, Managing Director of City Screen said: “With our repertoire continuing to expand, live and recorded performance art screenings are playing an increasingly important role in our cinema programming.” For a full programme of events, visit their website.

As we reported last year when the thriller debuted at Cinema City, the film stars Richard E. Grant as a creepy professor.

For a chance to win a free copy of the dvd of “Cuckoo”, just answer this question…

• What was Richard E. Grant’s first film role?

Email your answers to editor@southnorwichnews.co.uk. Include your name and postal address as the winner will be sent the dvd from the film’s PR company, Rabbit Publicity. Competition closes 6th March 2011.

Watch the trail below or read more about the film in our earlier coverage of the story.

Photo: Colin Hutton and Kerry Brown

Watch the trailer for a film shot on locations around the city, including Earlham Park, over in our Features section.

Cuckoo, a thriller shot partly on location in Norwich, goes on national release next month. Its director, Richard Bracewell, who lives in south Norwich has chosen Cinema City to host the first public screening. Sharp-eyed cinema-goers will spot scenes filmed in Earlham Park, Colegate and at West Norwich hospital. The films stars Richard E. Grant as “a creepy professor who has designs on his star student…”

Based on experiences the director’s partner had while pregnant, Richard Bracewell both wrote and directed the film. The main character, Polly, starts to hear her boyfriend’s voice when alone in her flat. The film’s tagline “It’s all in the mind…” leaves viewers having to piece together a puzzle: “I think it genuinely is thrilling. It leaves you talking about it for days afterwards.”

Rather than calling on a cast of thousands, Richard Bracewell filmed the bonfire scenes at a fireworks display in Earlham Park. Twenty thousand people at Sparks at the Park provided the backdrop, while the actual scenes involving actors were shot later in Yarmouth.

As part of their research, they visited the cardiology department at the N&N, and went on to film many of the corridor shots at the former West Norwich hospital on Bowthorpe Road: “The hospital was empty when we filmed there, and it really was like the set of a horror film.” Large warehouses in Colegate, as well as The Last Wine Bar where also used in the filming.

It was quite a coup to land Richard E. Grant for the film. Richard Bracewell puts this down to his casting director, Dan Hubbard, who’d worked on films such as The Bourne Ultimatum and Lord of the Rings. He cast Richard E. Grant in the role just after he’d finished filming a short film with Madonna: “It was all thanks to our casting director, who’s the lynch pin in making any film.”

Around 75% of the film’s £1 million budget was spent locally, which is why the director is pleased the film will debut in Norwich.

On December 14th, there’s a chance to attend a Director’s Q&A at Cinema City, before the film goes on general release on December 17th.

Richard Bracewell is currently filming a comedy. He also directed The Gigolos, a film listed by The Telegraph as one of the most under-rated films ever made: “Getting films made doesn’t get any easier, simply because you get more ambitious, and you set the bar higher every time.”

Tickets for the first public screening of Cuckoo at Cinema City on 14th December 2010 have just gone on sale.

Photos: Colin Hutton and Kerry Brown

In an interview with South Norwich News, the City College student talks about his hopes for the future: What next for Roger Nsengiyumva?

Roger with his mother Illuminee

The spotlight is firmly on one of the stars of the new hit film, Africa United.

Roger Nsengiyumva was studying for his GCSEs at CNS when he was called to audition for the movie.

His picture is now on the side of London buses, as the film described by many as “the next Slumdog Millionaire” goes on general release. 

So what next for the teenage film star?

Despite studying GCSE drama, the former CNS student had never acted before the call came to audition for the film Africa United. Many of his co-stars in the new hit film were entirely new to acting too. Since filming ended, he’s been cast in the lead role of a 2 part BBC drama - Homirid – due to be shown this Christmas, and he’s keen for it not to stop there: “Getting acting jobs, especially when you’re not that well known, is really hard, so it’s pretty crazy that I’ve landed two already.”

With two acting roles under his belt, Roger Nsengiyumva is planning to continue his studies at City College, rather than applying to drama school: “I would love to finish the course but I would absolutely love another role. When I got the part in the BBC drama I was quite worried, thinking maybe I was only good for one role as I’ve never acted before. I was thinking, how am I going to do this, but I was very pleased to get the go-ahead and work alongside experienced actors.”

The teenager, who attended Heigham Park First and Avenue Middle Schools before going on to CNS, is grateful to the headteacher at City of Norwich School, Jim Nixon, for giving him permission to take part in the 10 week filming in Rwanda, South Africa and Burundi. While there the young actors had school on set, which he says was: “insanely hard work, combining filming scenes with schoolwork.”

He was spotted for the role in Africa United after the producer saw an article about his mother’s book in a local magazine. His mother Illimunee, wrote the book Miracle in Kingali, about her experiences after she fled Rwanda, with the help of local author Paul Dickson. Roger says, while she was worried at first knowing he’d be filming abroad, she’s now getting used to seeing his face on the side of London buses.

The teenage star watched the film twice this weekend, first with a group of 60 friends and then again with his family: “What was odd was at the premiere at the Odeon in London, with 800 odd people in the cinema. They gave it a standing ovation in London as well as in Toronto.” “The last thing I want to do is become big-headed. I’ve still got my feet firmly on the ground.”

Sport Unltd is an initiative designed to give young people the chance to try a wide range of sporting activities. Funded through Sport England, the idea is to get children to try out sports they’d never considered before, such as dodge ball or kayaking.

Earlier this year, a group of students from City College Norwich were given the task of making 5 short films about the programme. 9 students on the Foundation Degree in Media Practice set about shooting the films, using a range of techniques such as an under-water camera to film kayaking.

This 3 minute film of the street dance session was made by Lauren Bean, Rob Lovell, and Violetta Staneka. Libby Aitchison, a lecturer at City College Norwich said: ”Lots of skills were developed through this project: communication and problem-solving, as well as important media production skills in filming, interviewing and editing techniques.” The final edited films will be shown at Fusion in the Forum from 2nd – 14th August.

Katie Flatman from Active Norfolk said: “The Sport Unlimited programme will be running for one more term, so if there are any youth or sports centres who want to offer coaching, funding is still available. We’re particularly looking for sessions for older children, over age 11. The deadline for applications is September 10th.”

This short video was part of Norwich’s bid to become the UK City of Culture 2013. It was created by a 20 year old producer, who runs his own media company. Martin Watters explains how they hoped to impress the judges.

Having worked within the local media for the past 5 years, Martin Watters was approached by the city council to put together this film. What they wanted was a narrative which would surprise the judges in Liverpool who were considering bids from Norwich and 3 other cities – Sheffield, Derry and Birmingham – to become the UK City of Culture 2013.

The end product took 52 hours to make. As the judges weren’t visiting the city themselves, he needed to capture what Norwich has to offer, beyond the cliches of the cathedral and the castle.

Most of the footage was provided by local organisations who wanted to help the bid such as The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, the Theatre Royal, Open, and Future Radio. Martin Watters said: “A huge amount of people were really keen to help with the bid. We had to create some sort of narrative for Norwich that would surprise people from the start.”

They steered away from heavy voice overs, opting for music instead. Martin Watters says he trawled for days to find the right piece, hoping initially to find a local band, but opting for the upbeat carnival sound from the Young Blood Brass Band. 

If you watch closely you can catch a glimpse of what will be the city’s opening event, if Norwich is successful in its bid; a lantern is lit at the top of Ketts Hill which is then released across the city.

The message on screen subtely changes as the film plays, from Norwich being a candidate in the competition, to Norwich being the City of Culture 2013. A decision on who has won is expected by mid July.

Minnow Films, based in London, are looking for single sex families with 3 or more children to take part in what they describe as a subtle, gentle documentary. The company will film the participants spending time with a different family, focusing on the differences between growing up in an all-boy family compared with a family made up of girls. The children need to be aged between 6-16.

The small independent production company have won awards in the past for their films, shown on the BBC and Channel 4. There are only a few weeks before the families who want to get involved are shortlisted. The final documentary for the series, Cutting Edge, is due to screened by end of the year.

Anyone interested in taking part should email sonsanddaughters@minnowfilms.co.uk

World class professional cyclists will sprint up Grapes Hill as part of the race, stretching 117 miles from King’s Lynn to Great Yarmouth. The Tour of Britain event could generate around £1.5million for the local economy, and hopes to attract crowds of over 70,000 on the day.

 Aside from the economic benefits of the race, the Tour of Britain offers an opportunity for Norfolk County Council and partners to increase participation in cycling and sport in general locally, and continues the work that is being done to use London 2012 as a spring-board to boost uptake and performance in sporting pursuits in Norfolk.