The world of film

Check out our map of the world that contains quite breathtaking facts on films when you click on the countries. Did you know about Nollywood in Nigeria?

Europeans and Hollywood

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie attended the 'Inglorious Basterds' premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France this summer it marked just how important Europe is in the film industry. In fact ever since the 1930s, European film festivals have led the way in bringing great films to the attention of the public: when Cannes hands out its Palme D'Or (or Golden Palm) award to films from all over the world it really helps them to become huge international hits. The Berlin Film Festival, or 'Berlinale', also hands out its Golden Bear awards but takes film education to heart with its 'Berlinale Talent Campus', which is a winter school for up-and-coming filmmakers. To receive an award from either of these European festivals tells movie goers that a film is probably a little different to the mainstream, and the same can be said for European actors too.

Penelope Cruz, for example, speaks Spanish ('ella habla español') and was a star in Spain for several years winning awards for films like 'Belle Epoque' as far back as 1996. The film that got her noticed in Hollywood though was 'Todo sobre mi madre' (All About My Mother), and she was asked to star in a remake of a Spanish film she'd been in 'Abre Los Ojos' (Open Your Eyes) called 'Vanilla Sky' with Tom Cruise. In 2006, Cruz was the first Spanish Actress to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her lead performance in 'Volver': a film with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.

You'll also recognise French actor Mathieu Amalric as the baddie from the recent Bond film Quantum Of Solace. Amalric speaks a few languages although it was using his French language skills, or 'capacités linguistiques françaises', throughout the 1990s that made him one of France's most celebrated actors, including winning many 'Cesars', the French equivalent of Oscars. His acting ability and language skills got him a part in Steven Spielberg's controversial 2005 film 'Munich'; which also starred Daniel Craig, although they didn't share any scenes.

Finally, German-speaking actors have long been part of the Hollywood film industry too, and not just for World War II films – the most recent successful German actress was Franka Potente who played Matt Damon's love interest Marie in 'The Bourne Supremacy'.

By the way did you know there are Language and Film Talent Awards (LAFTAs) held each year? They award prizes to people who make great short films on why we need languages for all sorts of situations from getting jobs to getting dates! Find out more here

The rise of Bollywood

Did you see the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire? It was filmed in the city of Mumbai, the heart of Bollywood, and throws you in to the hectic culture of India. It follows the life of Jamal a tea boy (or Chai-wallah) who ends up on the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' to try and get in contact with his lost love Latika. We won't spoil the rest of it for you but film lovers have been charmed by its young actors and their amazing language skills; you hardly notice that for a third of the film the children from the Mumbai slums are speaking Maharati, a local Hindi dialect.

Jamal is played by Dev Patel (he was in 'Skins' you know) and he says that he loved the mix of language and culture filming in India: "It was so tricky putting on an accent in a city with so many different accents in the way they talk. But it was fun, I really enjoyed it, you know?" He goes on to add that he wishes he'd spent more time with his accent coach so he could perfect his Hindi!

But where does the Bollywood phenomenon come from we hear you ask? Well it's hard to encapsulate the history of it all in this small space but you can certainly get a feel for it on Bollywood websites like this one which show you that it has the superstars and epic films to match anything from Hollywood. In fact, some would say that with a background in traditional story telling, dance (or nrit), drama, theatre, and fantasy, Bollywood films give their audience much more entertainment than the usual Hollywood movie.

Young filmmakers

So how do you get started in film? There are loads of good websites like this one that will explain the technical side of using a camera, setting up a film crew (deciding who does what in the filming process) and how to tackle different subjects. There are also explanations of filming techniques you can use such as 'freeze frames', or 'montages' (from the French for 'putting together') where a lot of short bits of film are put together in a sequence. It's coming up with original ideas that is the hard part although David Webster, an award winning short film director, gave us this advice:

"Learn everything from acting to prop making and you'll soon be getting ideas for your very own film. Enter competitions and get to know people – film is a global industry so you need to think bigger than just the UK."

And he's right because if you've made a really good film there are a lot of film festivals and events across Europe to show it off. In fact countries like Italy, France and Germany are great for running festivals dedicated to the work of young filmmakers from 13 years of age upwards: they really do mix their passion for film with a passion for languages too. Have a look at this website that talks about future events and what they cover.

As we've seen in our 'Europeans and Hollywood' section, the film industry in Europe is really growing so it now offers a lot of opportunities to people starting out in film. Have a look at this website here that lists everything from training courses to news on what film is winning awards.