Bigas Luna…Spanish art house film director dies aged 67

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Juan Jose’ Bigas Luna was a Spanish art house film director. His first film to reach a wide audience was Las edades de Lulu (The Ages of Lulu) . However this film also came to the attention of the BBFC who lopped off 2:55s. His most well known films were from the Trilogia Iberica with Jamon Jamon (1992), Huevos de Oro (1993) and La teta y la luna (1994). He died of leukemia on 5 April 2013. Filmography Tatuaje (1976) Historias imp๚dicas (1977) Bilbao (1978) Renacer (1981) Caniche (1983) Lola (1986) Anguish (1987), writer and director Las edades de Lul๚ (1990) Jam๓n, jam๓n (1992) Huevos de oro (1993) La teta y la luna (1994) Lumi่re et compagnie (1996) Bแmbola (1996) La camarera del Titanic known in English as The Chambermaid on the Titanic (1997) Volav้runt (1999) Son de mar (2001) Yo soy la Juani (2006) Di Di Hollywood (2010)

Michael Winner…And to this day, Death Wish 2 still bears the proud scars of battle with the BBFC

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British film maker Michael Winner has died from liver disease at the age of 77. His wonderful career started in Britain with a varied assortment of generally light hearted films, often starring Oliver Reed. He moved across to the US where his films took a harder edge, most notably with the Death Wish series with Charles Bronson. These got him into all sorts of censorship tussles with the UK censor, James Ferman. The ongoing tussle was noted in a lecture by Ferman when he recalled the particularly heavy cutting inflicted on Death Wish 2. Referring to 3:42s of cuts to two gang rapes, Ferman quipped: I cut three minutes 42 seconds of that stuff, a record I think. Winner was furious. Thereafter Winner was something of a champion against censorship. He regularly took part in TV discussions, arguing the case against censorship. Filmography Shoot to Kill (1960) Some Like It Cool (1961) Old Mac (1961) Out of the Shadow (1961) Play it Cool (1962) The Cool Mikado (1962) West 11 (1963) The System (1964) You Must Be Joking! (1965) The Jokers (1967) I’ll Never Forget What’s'isname (1967) Hannibal Brooks (1969) The Games (1970) Lawman (1971) The Nightcomers (1972) Chato’s Land (1972) The Mechanic (1972) Scorpio (1973) The Stone Killer (1973) Death Wish (1974) Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) The Sentinel (1977) The Big Sleep (1978) Firepower (1979) Death Wish II (1982) The Wicked Lady (1983) Scream for Help (1984) Death Wish 3 (1985) A Chorus of Disapproval (1988) Appointment With Death (1988) Bullseye! (1990) Dirty Weekend (1993) Parting Shots (1999) Burke & Hare (2010)

Nagisa Oshima…Now in the Realm of the Senses having died aged 80

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Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, best known for directing In The Realm of the Senses , has died at the age of 80. The 1976 film, also known by its Japanese title, Ai No Corrida , featured unsimulated sex between the actors. Oshima also directed singer David Bowie in the WWII prison-camp drama Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. His most controversial project reflected his lifelong criticism of censorship. In The Realm of the Senses, a film based on a true story of obsession in 1930s Japan, was incredibly explicit for the time, with the two protagonists engaging in increasingly intense, graphic and bizarre sexual practices. In the final scenes, the male protagonist has his genitals severed by his lover, a prostitute-turned-hotel worker. The film fell foul of censors in Germany, the UK and the US – where it was seized by customs officials ahead of a planned screening at the New York Film Festival. The film wasn’t passed uncut in the UK until 2011. However, the sticking point wasn’t the explicit sex, it was a scene with a young boy having his penis yanked in a non-sexual way. Oshima’s companion film, the more restrained Empire of Passion , won him the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978.

Goodbye Emmanuelle…Sylvia Kristel dies aged 60

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Sylvia Kristel (28 September 1952 — 17 October 2012) was a Dutch actress, model and singer. Her most famous role is in the French film Emmanuelle . She died of cancer. Kristel began modeling when she was 17. She entered the Miss TV Europe contest in 1973 and won. She spoke Dutch, English, French, German and Italian. She gained international attention in 1974 for playing the title character in the softcore film Emmanuelle which remains one of the most successful French films ever produced. Kristel found herself typecast as Emmanuelle and often played roles that capitalised upon that image, most notably starring in an adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981) and a nudity-filled biopic of the World War I spy in Mata Hari . Her Emmanuelle image followed her to the United States where she played Nicole Mallow, a maid who seduces a teenage boy, in the controversial 1981 sex comedy Private Lessons . Although Private Lessons was one of the highest grossing independent films of 1981, Kristel saw none of the profits. She continued to appear in movies and last played Emmanuelle in the early 1990s. Sylvia’s Kristel’s filmography included many reprises of the role over the following period Emmanuelle au 7่me ciel (1993) Le secret d’Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) Beauty School (1993) Le parfum d’Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) Magique Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) L’amour d’Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) Emmanuelle เ Venise (1993) (TV) La revanche d’Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) ษternelle Emmanuelle (1993) (TV) Seong-ae-ui chimmuk (1992) Hot Blood (1990) In the Shadow of the Sandcastle (1990) Dracula’s Widow (1988) The Arrogant (1988) Casanova (1987) (TV) Red Heat (1985) Mata Hari (1985) The Big Bet (1985) Emmanuelle IV (1984) Private School (1983) Private Lessons (1981) Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981) The Million Dollar Face (1981) (TV) Un amore in prima classe (1980) The Nude Bomb (1980) The Concorde Airport 79 (1979) The Fifth Musketeer (1979) Letti selvaggi (1979) Mysteries (1978) Pastorale 1943 (1978) Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977) Ren้ la canne (1977) Alice ou la derni่re fugue (1977) La marge (1976) Une femme fid่le (1976) Emmanuelle: L’antivierge (1975) Le jeu avec le feu (1975) Un linceul n’a pas de poches (1974) Der Liebesschler (1974) Emmanuelle (1974)

Herbert Lom…A long and memorable film career comes to a close

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Herbert Lom, the actor, who has died aged 95, brought to the screen a remarkable gallery of monarchs and gangsters, witchfinders, psychiatrists and spies, dictators and assassins, cops and robbers. A ladykiller and several times Napoleon, he will, above all, be remembered as the French police chief driven gradually mad by the antics of Peter Sellers’s Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the long-running Pink Panther series of films. Herbert Lom’s long filmography includes many appearances in notable films in Melon Farming genres: Hammer’s Phantom of the Opera (1962) Jess Franco’s 99 Women , a  Women in Prison film (1969) Mark of the Devil , a massively controversial witchfinder film which is still cut in the UK Jess Franco’s Count Dracula . Lom played Van Helsing (1970) Massimo Dallamano’s Dorian Gray (1970) Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

Stanley Long’s Last Adventure…Director of some of the best known British sex comedies dies aged 78

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Prolific British exploitation filmmaker Stanley Long has died, aged 78. Long died of natural causes on Monday in Buckinghamshire. Dubbed the King of Sexploitation , Long produced and/or directed a series of successful X certificate movies between 1958 and 1983. His director’s credits featured: Naughty! Bread Sex and the Other Woman Sex Through the Ages Adventures of a Taxi Driver Adventures of a Private Eye It Could Happen to You Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate Long was also hired by other filmmakers to work on their features, such as Roman Polanksi who approached Long to complete camera-work on his movie Repulsion . Recently, Long worked with his company Salon and made it one of the most popular post-production facilities in Europe, working on blockbusters such as V for Vendetta and Batman Begins .

Tony Scott…True Romance director dies aged 68

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True Romance director Tony Scott ended his life when he jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon, according to Los Angeles police sources. Investigators recovered the body and found a suicide note in his car, which was parked on the bridge. Anthony David Scott (June 21, 1944 — August 19, 2012) was an English film director. His films include: The Hunger Top Gun Beverly Hills Cop II The Last Boy Scout True Romance Crimson Tide Enemy of the State Spy Game Man on Fire De’ja’ Vu The Taking of Pelham 123 Unstoppable. He was the younger brother of fellow film director Ridley Scott. Scott’s films were generally box office successes, though he was never nominated for an Academy Award and received little critical praise. I don’t know about the lack of critical praise but the Melon Farmers consider True Romance to be one of the movie greats of the era.

Obituary: Simon Ward…Starred in Hammer’s Frankenstein Must be Destroyed

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The British screen and stage actor Simon Ward has died after a long illness, his agent has confirmed. Ward, who was 70, appeared in several films from the 1960′s until the 1980s, including The Three Musketeers and Hammer’s Frankenstein Must be Destroyed. He also starred as Bishop Gardiner in The Tudors and as Sir Monty in the popular BBC television series Judge John Deed . A statement released by his agent said he passed away peacefully with his wife Alexandra and daughters at his bedside.

Ernest Borgnine…A long acting career, featuring many melon farming movies, comes to an end

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Hollywood screen star Ernest Borgnine has died aged 95. The star died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his wife and children at his side, a spokesman said. In the early 1950s, Borgnine gained notoriety for playing Fatso Judson, the villain who beat Frank Sinatra to death in From Here to Eternity . He later starred in 1950s action blockbusters Three Bad Men , Barabbas , The Dirty Dozen and The Wild Bunch. He also appeared in 1981 Deadly Blessing as Isaiah Schmidt 1981 Escape from New York as Cabbie 1975 The Devil’s Rain as Jonathan Corbis In 1955, he won the best-actor Oscar for playing a lovesick butcher in Marty , a low-budget film starring Rod Steiger.

Obituary: David Webb…Campaigner noted for the National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts (NCROPA)

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IDavid Webb, Director of the National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts (NCROPA) died of cancer on 30th June 2012. David Webb’s organisation was particularly well known in the pre-internet era when the likes of Mary Whitehouse were banging on about obscenity in the media. Fellow campaigner Sean Gabb writes: It is partly thanks to David’s tireless, and often thankless, campaigning over the years that we enjoy our present semi-relaxation of the laws against sexual expression. I helped publicise his campaign against the Customs and Excise in the 1990s, when he challenged their use of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876 to seize a mass of pornographic videos that he had imported from Holland and declared on arrival here asfor personal use! Though his challenge failed on a technicality in the Court of Appeal, the 1876 Act is nowadays used far less aggressively than in the 1980s and 1990s. I also fondly remember joining him on the platform at the NCROPA fringe meeting at the 1992 Conservative Party conference in Brighton. Otherwise, David was a frequent speaker throughout the United Kingdom on issues of sexual liberation, and he stood for Parliament on more than one occasion. Outside of campaigning David Webb was a well-known and much-loved actor on stage, screen and television.