News Reel & Blog

BRITS ABROAD - CANNES 2014

Written by James Cheetham on 30th May 2014

The latest Searchlight Newsletter is in and in it we've covered this year's Cannes Film Festival and the British talent represented!

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Timothy Spall with his Best Actor Award.

Image courtesy of Guardian. Photograph by Julian Warnand/EPA

Many say that Cannes is the epicentre of the Film industry, as Filmmakers, Screenwriters, Producers and the stars of the films descend upon the French Riviera to show off their latest productions. And if Cannes is the epicentre, then British film talent is having a good 2014.

Focusing upon the highest prize, the Palme d’Or, a couple of this year’s nominees came from our isles with a range of Brit talent populating the credits.

Ken Loach’s latest film Jimmy's Hall follows the story of Jimmy Gralton, the Irish political activist and his deportation to the United States in the 1930s. As a familiar face at Cannes, Loach previously won the Palme d’Or in 2006 for his feature The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

Mike Leigh also returned to Cannes this year with Mr Turner, starring our own Timothy Spall and his portrayal of the 19th Century painter J.M.W Turner, which won Spall the Best Actor award.

The film that scored the Palme d'Or however was Turkish drama, Winter Sleep, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which follows a family who open a hotel in the mountains which soon becomes a shelter. Winter Sleep stars Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer, who surprisingly has Eastenders down on his resume along with a range of British theatre productions.

Cronenberg’s most recent A Map to the Stars was also up for the prize, and while it’s an American production, British Twilight poster boy Robert Pattinson has a starring role as he continues to try and elude his Glittery Vampire past. This could be the year he achieves this as he continues to gather positive reviews for his performance in Australian drama The Rover.

Speaking of poster boys, Doctor Who’s very own Matt Smith seems to have taken a different route from the time-space continuum by starring in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River, which is a step away from his quiff and bowtie-d alter ego. Unfortunately Lost River seems to have been tagged as this year’s big Cannes flop.

Further British talent can be found in the festival with the Nicole Kidman vehicle Grace of Monaco starring Tim Roth and Sir Derek Jacobi and the Gay Pride drama set in the 80’s Pride, whose cast is headed up by Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy.

May the British invasion continue!

Time to Throw Your CV in the Bin?

Written by James Cheetham on 9th May 2014

Rather than spending those last few endless minutes scanning over our CVs for grammatical or spelling errors, should we instead be throwing the entire thing in the bin and flicking on the webcam?

As technology continues to take over every aspect of our lives, we’ve noticed in recent years that the dreaded term “Video CV” has cropped up more and more. The technical term is Me-V, and it’s usually been something that has presided more with Digital Agencies. It’s also been considered more of a route for junior candidates, trying to break their way into their desired industries. But despite these presumptions, the Me-V is something that appears to be becoming more of a staple in the job application warzone, regardless of job title or seniority level.

From a recruiters point of view, a video CV will offer more insight into the candidates personality. It's all well and good going off the written word but getting a sense of them as a person will always help with the process and see if they’re a better fit for the role and the team.

Richard Linden, MyNextGig.com founder and CEO agrees that these Video CVs are a much more successful way of getting to know candidate past the traditional CV. He said, "Many companies don't like to be contacted face-to-face until the interview. Video introductions allow job seekers an opportunity to build a relationship with the recruiter and on the recruiter's terms."

As a candidate, while the idea of creating a Me-V may be daunting, the positives of it are that it does allow you to make this initial first impression past your work history on a piece of paper. You may not have all the right requirements but if you tick some of the boxes for the role and come across as confident and a team fit, you’re more likely to get an interview than if you’d just emailed over a standard CV.

You may find that it actually allows you to be more relaxed in this first video impression than you normally would be in an interview, something that Rich Brady, Social Marketing Expert agrees with, “A video CV could give applicants the relaxed atmosphere they need to get themselves across.”

So while it may not be the hiring standard to request a ME-V or send one yourself, if there is that dream job out there and you want to make the best first impression…maybe throwing that standard CV in the bin is the way to move forward.

BRITS ABROAD - CANNES 2014

Time to Throw Your CV in the Bin?

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