by
Laura Lai/ Uncategorized
Every country on each continent has
its own culture. It means that each of them has its literature, philosophy,
architecture, film, music, and so on. The reason why we generally speak about
an African culture, an Asian culture, a European or a Latin-American culture is
because they share a common cultural heritage. It may also happen that a
country to be as big as almost a whole continent, such as Russia, with its own
language, architecture, film, music. And therefore, the Russian culture. A
common cultural heritage can also be shared between a former colonial power and
its former colonies, such as the Commonwealth. Culture transcends all political
arrangements, whether a (British) empire, a (European) union, and so on.
It is in Europe that all the
former colonial empires are. Therefore, it is no surprise that it is in France
that Antoine Lumière (1895) made a first film projection in a cinema in Paris.
In the same year a first film projection took place in Vienna and in ten years
after the first projection had Vienna 10 cinemas. But Vienna is also known for
its music, for its Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The Germans have their
Berliner Philarmoniker. And the British have the London Symphony Orchestra.
It
is almost a logical consequence that after the first film projections, cinemas
to be built and films to be made. The concept of ‘film festivals’ brought the
idea of film competition. And the competition has its dimensions: national, continental
or international film festivals. In France takes place the Cannes Film
Festival; in Germany, the Berlin International Film Festival; in Italy, Venice
Film Festival. And in Britain?
Great Britain remains loyal first
to its long theater tradition. However, it organizes yearly at Royal Albert
Hall the BAFTA Award for outstanding achievements in British Film and
Television. But what is ‘BAFTA’?
The
word itself can stand as a noun and as an acronym. As a noun, in English, it is
rooted in ‘Urdu’ and ‘Persian’ language and it refers to a cloth. In another
language, in Romanian for example, it is a noun rooted in Turkish language, but
it evolved into the noun ‘bafta’, which means ‘good luck’. When used as an
acronym, BAFTA means the British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
Some
of the 2019 nominations for the BAFTA Awards scheduled for February 10th
are: ‘The Favourite’, ‘Green Book’, ‘The Wife’, ‘Can you forgive me?’, ‘Stan
and Ollie’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, and many others. As every year, the film
competition is tough and the decisions are difficult to take.
As a viewer and
as a film lover, I wish them all…bafta!
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