The fans lined the red carpet several people deep while the press' camera flashes were pinging at a rate and concentration fast enough to induce epileptic seizures on Saturday night, and it was mostly the responsibility of one lady. Possibly the most polite star we've had the privilege of chewing the fat with, Mrs Gwyneth Paltrow Martin.
She was out for the Times BFi London Film Festival gala screening of her latest movie Proof, and joined by her two time director John Madden. "It's kind of hard to define. I think at its core it's a mystery, really," said Paltrow when asked to describe the film. To read more of that conversation, see our Red Carpet Q&A.
Meanwhile, Madden was all smiles, and happily shared his joy at being part of the festival "It's great to be here, it's the best part of it. We made the movie here – we shot the majority of it here, we of course shot in Chicago to some extent, but it's a British film, made at Elmstree with a British crew, and the production of the play which really began the whole process, I did at the Donmar just over the road there, so it's great to come back."
The director hasn't worked in film for a few years, and there's good reason for that. "Yes, I took something of a sabbatical in the theatre for a while," he explained, "As happens with these things, there's various projects you're working on that fall apart for one reason or another. Actually I was supposed to be making a film directly after **Proof **which collapsed because of the government restructuring of the tax laws." Which if you read our interview with The Constant Gardener's producer Simon Channing Williams, seems to be a commonality between this year's British festival entries.
Just a half an hour later, it was the turn of photographer turned film director David La Chappelle, back in town with his dancing documentary Rize. "I'm really excited to see what the UK thinks of it. I got my start here in 1984 as a photographer, so I have a real love for this country, and I'm just hoping that they love the film, because there's no agenda in it, just to get it finished. And hopefully, of course, that people will see it! Now that that's happening, I'm really, really happy."
Given his obvious talent for all things visual, we asked David if he had any further plans for feature films. "It's nice to do different mediums, but it was no stepping stone, this film. It was just… I don't care if I never do another one, but I just had to make this because nobody else was making it, nobody else was paying attention to this phenomenon that's happening in the ghetto, in South Central Los Angeles. It was a three year process, and a lot of love went into it, but there's no plans to do it again yet."
Both films played to full, appreciative houses, and are scheduled for UK release in the coming months.