Where are the women directors? Jackie takes part in panel conversation in May issue of Boards magazine
10 MAY 2010
In a feature "Where they ain't; where are the women directors?" Jackie took part in a panel discussion in the May issue of Boards magazine alongside Epoch Films EP Jerry Solomon; BBDO, New York EVP/director of TV production Regina Ebel; Epoch director Jessica Sanders; Prettybird, Santa Monica co-founder/EP Kerstin Emhoff; Park Pictures, NY owner/EP Jackie Kelman Bisbee and Psyop, NY co-founder/director Marie Hyon to provide their take on why the lack of female directors is a problem that continues to persist.
Illustration: Hayley Morris
French Film opens to critical acclaim
17 MAY 2009
French Film opened in London on Friday to critical acclaim. “Jackie Oudney’s immensely likeable debut brings together the best elements of Richard Curtis’s London movies and Nora Ephron’s romantic comedies, with a strong whiff of Woody Allen... (the film is) clever, funny and emotionally truthful and the parodies of Grimandi’s films are deadly accurate”, wrote Philip French in The Observer. Meanwhile, Tim Evans at Sky Movies gave the film four stars and observed that “with Richard Curtis firmly run aground after The Boat That Rocked, there’s a gaping hole for literate, witty homegrown romantic dramas. Oudney and Ditta fill it perfectly.” Jon Fortgang at Film Four said “Sacre bleu! C’est un perky British rom a la com avec un great self-mocking performance by Eric Cantona.” At Teletext Victor Olliver gave the film four stars too, saying “Director Jackie Oudney’s movie debut is such a triumph that it turns former football star Eric Cantona into a legit actor at last... mature, funny, true—the best rom-com in a long while.”
Jackie Oudney is a film and commercials director. She was born and raised in Dundee, Scotland and studied Stage Management at Rada and camera at NFTS in London. She has directed over 30 commercials, winning several prestigious international awards including a Silver Lion at Cannes and a silver D&AD pencil. She’s also directed two award-winning short films and has just completed her first feature, French Film. The film is produced by Slingshot from a script by Aschlin Ditta and stars Hugh Bonneville, Eric Cantona, Anne-Marie Duff, Victoria Hamilton and Douglas Henshall. The film was released in the UK on 15 May 2009. See the trailer for French Film here.
Stills from French Film, from left: Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff) and Jed (Hugh Bonneville); Eric Cantona pontificates as maestro Thierry Grimandi; Jed and Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton) in couple counselling; Marcus (Dougie Henshall) and Sophie at dinner.
French Film at the festivals
15 APRIL 2009
French Film has recently won two major awards at the Monte-Carlo Film Festival for Best Actor (Hugh Bonneville) and Best Screenplay (Aschlin Ditta). Ace!
Praise for French Film at Dinard Film Festival 2008
“A word too for Jackie Oudney’s delightful French Film, a truthful romantic comedy about the breakdown of a relationship between a London couple and the role played in the affair by a suave movie director (a winning performance by Eric Cantona). They all deserve distribution.”
“The most unashamedly enjoyable film of the festival was Jackie Oudney’s French Film. A romantic comedy that managed to be both romantic and comic (no mean feat, as anyone who has ever seen a film starring Kate Hudson will confirm), Oudney’s debut was sincere, warm, believable, and laugh-out-loud funny. Hugh Bonneville and Anne-Marie Duff star, although Eric Cantona steals the show as a French film director offering his own distinctly French take on love – let’s call it Gallic symbolism. Despite watching a film which offered gentle mockery of their nation throughout, the positive audience reaction recalled a quote by Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna Everage): “Never be afraid to laugh at yourself. After all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century”.”
Jackie Oudney wikipedia entry
French Film official site
French Film at IMDb
Copyright Jackie Oudney, 2009