The Glitterball

Last updated

The Glitterball
Title Card from British film "The Glitterball" (1977).jpg
Title Card
Directed by Harley Cokliss
Written byMichael Abrams, Howard Thompson, Harley Cokliss
Produced by Mark Forstater
Starring
CinematographyAlan Hall
Edited by
  • Thomas Schwalm
  • Nick Gaster
Music by
Production
companies
Release date
  • 1977 (1977)(UK)
Running time
55 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Glitterball is a 1977 British sci-fi children's film made by Mark Forstater Productions for the Children's Film Foundation. [1] [2] It was directed by Harley Cokeliss, credited under his birth name of Harley Cokliss. The film was screened at the 2010 Edinburgh Film Festival as part of a retrospective of 16 "rarely seen" British films made between 1967 and 1979, "rediscovered" after a year of detective work by event staff. [3] In 1979, Methuen Publishing released the children's novel by the same name, written by screenwriters Howard Thompson and Harley Cokliss. ISBN   9780416863406.

Contents

Plot

Two boys befriend a stranded alien in the shape of a little silver ball and help it to return home. [4]

Cast

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

<i>The Wicker Man</i> 1973 film by Robin Hardy

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual, and Paul Giovanni composed the film score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Gordon</span> Scottish artist

Douglas Gordon is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mani Ratnam</span> Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter (born 1956)

Gopalaratnam Subramaniam, known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He is one of India's most acclaimed and commercially successful filmmakers. Ratnam has won six National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, six Filmfare Awards South, and numerous awards at various film festivals across the world. In 2002, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, acknowledging his contributions to film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</span> Arts festival

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2018 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows across 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an unofficial offshoot to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilda Swinton</span> British actress

Katherine Matilda Swinton is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jørgen Leth</span> Danish poet and film director (born 1937)

Jørgen Leth is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making. Most notable are his documentary A Sunday in Hell (1977) and his surrealistic short film The Perfect Human (1968). He is also a sports commentator for Danish television and is represented by the film production company Sunset Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alanis Obomsawin</span> American-Canadian Abenaki artist and filmmaker

Alanis Obomsawin, is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh International Film Festival</span> Movie festival in Scotland

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films, in all genres and lengths. It also presents themed retrospectives and other specialized programming strands.

The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) is a non-profit organisation which makes films and other media for children in the United Kingdom. Originally it made films to be shown as part of children's Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 minutes long. Over time the organisation's role broadened and its name changed, first to the Children's Film and Television Foundation in the mid-80s and to the Children's Media Foundation in 2012.

<i>Starburst</i> (magazine) British science fiction magazine and webzine

Starburst is a British science fiction magazine published by Starburst Magazine Limited. Starburst contains news, interviews, features, and reviews of genre material in various media, including TV, film, soundtracks, multimedia, books, and comics books. The magazine is published quarterly, with additional news and reviews being published daily on the website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Cambridge UK

The Cambridge Film Festival is the third-longest-running film festival in the UK. Historically, the festival took place in early July, but now it occurs annually during autumn in Cambridge. It is organised by the registered charity Cambridge Film Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC One "Circle" idents</span>

The BBC One "Circle" idents were a set of on-screen channel identities used on BBC One from 7 October 2006 to 4 December 2016. They also featured on the BBC Studios channel, BBC America. The idents contained images of circles being formed by nature, or people and their actions. This was the longest set of idents that was used by BBC One, as they lasted for 10 years.

The Back of Beyond (1954) is a feature-length award-winning Australian documentary film produced and directed by John Heyer for the Shell Film Unit. In terms of breadth of distribution, awards garnered, and critical response, it is Heyer's most successful film. It is also, arguably, Australia's most successful documentary: in 2006 it was included in a book titled 100 Greatest Films of Australian Cinema, with Bill Caske writing that it is "perhaps our [Australia's] national cinema's most well known best kept secret".

<i>Battletruck</i> 1982 New Zealand film

Battletruck is a 1982 New Zealand post-apocalyptic science fiction action film co-written and directed by Harley Cokliss and starring Michael Beck, Annie McEnroe, James Wainwright, John Ratzenberger, and Bruno Lawrence.

Harley Cokeliss is an American director, writer and producer of film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Cousins (filmmaker)</span> Northern Irish film director

Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his best-known works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.

Christopher Frank was a British-born French writer, screenwriter, and film director. He won the 1972 Prix Renaudot for his novel La Nuit américaine that served the basis for Andrzej Zulawski's film That Most Important Thing: Love.

Mark Irwin Forstater is an American film and TV producer, author, audio producer, music producer and tech entrepreneur, notable for producing the classic comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and then in 2012 suing the five living members of Monty Python over a dispute regarding royalties from merchandising income, including the Spamalot musical, which was "lovingly ripped off from" the Holy Grail movie. He is a graduate of London Film School. He has resided in the United Kingdom since 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Scott (director)</span> British filmmaker, painter, draughtsman and printmaker

James Scott is a British filmmaker, painter, draughtsman and printmaker.

<i>Live at the Isle of Wight Festival</i> (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel video) 2005 video by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Live at the Isle of Wight Festival is a live concert video by the British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, filmed at the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival, and released on DVD in 2005. It is the band's third filmed concert release, and first such release on DVD.

References

  1. "Review: The Glitterball". Time Out. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  2. Landers Film Reviews. Vol. 28. Landers Associates. 1983. p. 109.
  3. Carrell, Severin (1 June 2010). "Edinburgh film festival to screen 'lost and forgotten' British movies. Rarely seen works by Ken Russell, Stephen Frears and Albert Finney among festival retrospective". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  4. Cinefantastique, Volumes 6-7. F. S. Clarke. 1977. p. 35.
  5. "The Glitterball (1977)". The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television. Retrieved 26 June 2013.