G.M.

(2001, 8’30”, Digi Beta on 35mm)

Two 35mm prints are available.

An Edwardian gentleman is tormented by spirits who appear through holes in his sitting-room wall paper. The film was fully-funded by the London Production Fund 2001.

‘G.M.’ was inspired by the work of magician and film pioneer Georges Melies (1861-1938), whose most famous film – ‘Le Voyage Dans La Lune’ – was exactly one hundred years old in 2001. The film was made possible by a grant from the London Production Fund with additional funding from Portable Whole.

Promoted by: The British Council, Film and Literature Department, 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BN Tel. +44 20 7930 8466.

G.M. had a rare screening at the Sound Of Silent Film Festival in Chicago on 22nd April 2017 with a live score by Randall West.

CAST

The Man (“G.M.” & “M.G.”): Neil Edmond
Victorian Girl: Leslie Cummins
Landlady: Isabel Rocamora
Wall Spirits: Lisa Duncan, Carolyn Williams, Pat Reid & Dave Sag

CREW

Director of Photography: Paul Nash
Assistant Director: Mick Pantaleo
Focus Puller: Jason Ellis
Stills Photographer: Kalpesh Lathigra
Gaffer: Mark Johnson
Lighting Technician: Dean Holton
Runners: Kevin Feeney & Chet Khere
Production Designer: Don Rothwell
Costumes Designer: Vicky West
Set Dresser: Melanie Ford
Set Painter: Dave Grey
Make Up & Hair: Francesca Antoniou & Adele Croker
Post-production Supervisor: Brian Marshall
Music by John Pattison
Sound Effects by John Pattison & Robert Urquhart
Editor: Brian Marshall
Digital Compositing: Martin Pickles
Advising Digital Colourists: Matt Ramsay & Stuart Elliot
Produced by Kate Fletcher
Written & Directed by Martin Pickles

SCREENING HISTORY

2017
G.M. had a another screening at the Sound Of Silent Film Festival in Chicago on 22nd April 2017 with a live score by Randall West.

2009
Sound of Silent Film Festival 2009, Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, USA: 18th March 2009. The film was shown with a live score composed by Randall West.

2005
21st Century Silents at the Bristol Watershed Cinema, Bristol, UK: 24th September 2005

2004
Scarborough Silent Film Festival at The Stephen Joseph Theatre (McCarthy) Westborough, Scarborough, North Yorkshire: 22nd September 2004. Special thanks to John Pattison
Welwyn Garden Film Society: 7th May 2004 . ‘G.M.’ and ‘The Commuter’ were both screened as accompanying shorts for the Aki Kaurismaki feature film ‘Man Without A Past.’ Special thanks to Dawn Sharpless of Dazzle Films for arranging this.

2003
Flexiff Film Festival, Sydney, Australia: September 2003 
International Scientific Film Festival, Hungary: September 28th 2003
CCA in Glasgow, as support for the feature film ‘Russian Ark’: August 26th-30th 2003
Kinofilm Best Of British Tour, England: March-April 2003

2002
Foyle Film Festival, Belfast: November 30th 2002
Kino Film Festival, Manchester: October 23rd 2002
MECAL Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain: September 2002
Yale Centre for British Art, Connecticut, USA: September 2002
ICA, London by the Halloween Society: September 30th 2002
New Producers Alliance screening with the feature film ‘Lost In La Mancha’ at the Fox Preview Theatre, Soho Square, London: July 22nd 2002
Dali Universe Film Festival, London: July 15th 2002
Halloween Society at the Prenelle Gallery, London: July 12th 2002
Cine Lumiere, London: March 1st & 2nd 2002
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, France: February 4th 2002

2001
Regus London Film Festival, NFT1, London: 16th November 2001
World Premiere at Sitges Film Festival in Catalunya, Spain: October 5th 2001. It was shown as the accompanying short with the French feature film ‘Vidocq’.
Cast and crew screening at Myrtle, the Brunswick Centre, London: 3rd July 2001

REVIEWS & PRESS:

Sitges International Film Festival Catalogue, October 2001:

“G.M. are the intitials of a much-loved film-maker: Georges Melies. His fantasy world is the basic inspiration for this short that has just one set (a room) and the great artist reinventing life and love from the four walls. The question is: a century apart, can there be harmony between the primitive, artisan magic of Melies and digital magic? The answer is on the screen.”

Time Out, London, 14th November 2001:

“‘G.M.’ is nought to do with frankenstein food. but a tribute to the origial magician of the cinema, Georges Melies. A digital-effect driven exercise in drawing-room Victoriana and extra-spacial spirits in the walls thereof, it’s a fond if slightly eccentric pastiche.” (Nick Bradshaw)

Regus London Film Festival website, November 2001:

“G. M. stands for George Melies and this film is about fantasy characters who hide behind holes in the wall. Filmmaker, Martin Pickles, did all the special effects himself. He explained how the idea came to him: ‘Actually I dreamt at least fifty percent of the events. I dreamt I was actually sitting in a screening watching it and thinking, ‘That’s a bloody good idea for a film, I wish I’d thought of that’. George Melies was a magician who becomes one of the great film pioneers. He would mix reality and fantasy and he was one of the great inventors of special effects. I wanted to make it feel removed from the real world that’s one of the reasons why I kept it silent and why I added grain to it. All of the grain was added digitally before being transferred onto 35mm.’” (Rachel Evans)