“Film. It’s just static frames… with darkness in between. But there is a little flaw in your optic nerve. So, if I run the film at 24 frames per second… it creates an illusion of motion. An illusion of life. So, you don’t see the darkness. Out there, they just see a beam of light. And nothing else without light”.
A few lines by Toni Jones to open the first teaser trailer of Empire Of Light. This is no Skyfall or Specter; this is no film about WWI. This is a love story, but neither toxic nor evil like the one of American Beauty. This is something different director Sam Mendes wanted to gift us with.
Empire of Light has been presented to the public with a poetic teaser with light colours alternated with dark moments.
Light and dark. Frames and life. Film.
The master Sam Mendes will return at the end of the year with what has been defined as the director’s love letter to cinema.
The film follows the lives of the people that work at the “Empire”, an old school cinema located in a small British town, focusing on an unconventional love story between the front-of-house worker Hilary, and Stephen, a new employee who is facing racism in the 1980s south of England.
The cats: outstanding. Academy Award winners Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, BAFTA winner Micheal Ward, the iconic Toby Jones, Tanya Moodie, Tom Brooke, Hannah Onslow, and Crystal Clarke.
To support the amazing work of these actors, a cinematic legend has been chosen to direct the cinematography: Roger Deakins. Tireless collaborator of the Coen brothers and two-time Academy Award winner, for Blade Runner 2049 and 1917, where he worked with Mendes creating a breathtaking long take.
The film is set to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, just before its theatrical releases in the US on December 9, and UK on January 13.
Have a look at the teaser trailer on YouTube:
#Peace.Love.EmpireofLight
