The news that Kate Winslett and Leonardo DiCaprio are to reunite for the first time since Titanic, in a feature directed by hubby Sam Mandes, is a great coup for BBC Films who developed the project. I interviewed David Thompson, head of the department, in 2005 for the last funding guide and he said some interesting things about how he likes to work with producers, commissioning structures and budgets.

From Oscar winning Iris to the $100m grossing Billy Elliot, Thompson has steered BBC Films through a string of critical and commercial successes. With a £10m annual budget for mainly co-productions, including Woody Allen’s first non US features, BBC Films have become one of the UK’s most active, successful (and well funded) producers.

To win one major Cannes award is fortunate. To win two, is just plain careless. The suprise double win for Ken Loach's The Wind that Blows the Barley and Andrea Arnold's Red Road at Cannes on Sunday night, is a stunning endorsement of Paul Trijbits' reign at the New Cinema Fund as the UK Film Council advertise for his replacement.

"for a first time film maker to win the Prix du Jury is an amazing achievement"

"To have two British Lottery funded films in Competition in Cannes was in itself a tremendous achievement, but now to have one film win the Palme d’Or and the other win the Prix du Jury is an outstanding testament to the talent, creativity and vision of Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold."
 
"It is fantastic that Ken Loach has won the most important accolade in the film world, the Palme d’Or, with The Wind That Shakes the Barley.  Ken continues on his quest of raising difficult political issues and has made one of his most powerful films in a most uncompromising way.”
 
"For Andrea Arnold to have her film screened in competition alongside internationally recognised directors such as Pedro Almodóvar and Ken Loach was recognition in itself.  And now for a first time film maker to win the Prix du Jury is an amazing achievement.  With Red Road, Andrea has created a stunningly visual film which reaches to the very heart of society through uncompromising observations using CCTV. This shows that she is one of the most exciting, new filmmakers in the world."

Whether you're Russian, American, French or Japanese, chances are Michael Dounaev has a story that will tug at your heartstrings. As the newly appointed CEO of Sistema Mass Media and co-founder of one of its subsidiaries, Thema Productions, Russian-born Dounaev has an eye for stories with international appeal. He has produced and co-produced hits like A Good Woman, starring Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson, and, most recently, Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated Match Point.

After Nik Powell co-founded Virgin with school-friend Richard Branson, he ran Palace Pictures with Stephen Woolley, and later Scala Productions, where they both produced and found some era-defining films and filmmakers (Neil Jordon, Sam Raimi, the Coen Brothers, Lars von Trier, Shane Meadows), before leading the European Film Academy, and finally running the National Film & TV School. Powell had the rare combination of creative and entrepreneurial vision – along with a perhaps even rarer warmth, openness and geniality. He passed away on 7 November 2019 at 69, during treatment for cancer.

It was my good fortune to meet Nik a few times. The first, in Dundee in 2003, thrusting the first film funding book in his hand and taking his card. The second, two years later, a hastily arranged 8am interview in Marlybone, which follows. I was flustered with kit, having only bought a camera to film the interview the day before but not having packed the charged batter, so just recorded audio. He didn't react, shared some incredible stories, and left, an hour later, paying for our breakfasts. Despite it starting slowly as I tried to get my kit working, it gets more and more interesting and remains one of my favourite interviews; the moment when Tim Bevan enters the cafe just as he is explaining how he finds talented people would have been good on camera.