[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-ways-to-live-forever-the-film":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Last night I went to see the film \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/b>\u003C/i> and got very excited about some of the low-tech animation in it. Here's some more by the same studio, which I think fits in very well with Titus's imaginative sketchbook world in \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/titus.php\">\u003Ci>When Titus Took the Train\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"832\"/>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://youtu.be/6FmE2ZlvIT0\">\u003Ci>YouTube link\u003C/i>\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nThis was created by Spanish company \u003Ca href=\"http://www.miopiafx.com/english/index.html\">Miopia Efectos Visuales\u003C/a>, who made the special effects for \u003Ci>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/i>, which I saw as part of the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.eastendfilmfestival.com/\">East End Film Festival\u003C/a>. Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.miopiafx.com/english/videos/waystoliveforever.html\">Miopia's webpage for the film\u003C/a>, or you can watch some of the animation sequences right here:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"861\"/>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/16621433?ab\">\u003Ci>Vimeo link\u003C/i>\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.waystoliveforever.com/\">website with loads of video clips about the makings of \u003Ci>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, and the trailer:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"860\"/>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://youtu.be/IdkFaDxwOAE\">\u003Ci>YouTube link\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI've been excited for ages to see the film because it's based on the marvelous book of the same name, written by my friend \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sallynicholls.com\">Sally Nicholls\u003C/a>. She wrote it when she was in her very early twenties, but it's a masterpiece of combining comedy with hard life questions. It's a real skill to make people laugh while they're reading about a boy dying of leukemia, and it really pulls you into Sam's world, his very good questions about life and death, and his attempt at a scientific way to find answers. (\u003Ca href=\"http://www.sallynicholls.com/books/ways-to-live-forever/\">Read about \u003Ci>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/i> on Sally's website.\u003C/a> or on the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.waystoliveforever.co.uk/\">Scholastic book website\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.sallynicholls.com/books/ways-to-live-forever/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ways-to-live-forever-3f84f2d794.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here to read more under the cut-->\\r\nHere's Sally and her husband Tom in the lobby of West India Quay Cinema, where a bunch of us gathered to watch her film being screened. I tried to catch Sally pointing to \u003Ci>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/i> in the film listening on the screen, but unfortunately it doesn't show in the photo.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sally_nicholls_film-b61dd1c8a3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Ways to Live Forever\u003C/i> was made by a Spanish film company and hasn't yet found a distributor in the UK, but I am so, \u003Cb>SO\u003C/b> hoping it does. This film's amazing. Yes, a real tear-jerker, but it earns its tears. Robbie Kay and Alex Etel do a very lively and convincing job playing the two kids who bond in the hospital ward and Ben Chaplin and Emilia Fox do a great job playing the parents. (Here's the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446208/\">IMDB listing\u003C/a> for more details.) And there's even a giant red airship! If you haven't yet read the book, go do that while we're waiting for the film to come out.\\r\n\\r\nSally and I first met when I was about to sign on with her agent (who then was Rosemary Canter). I was a bit nervous about commitment and went into overdrive to research her agenting work, tracking down at least five of her writers and illustrators and getting their recommendations. Sally was one of the first people I talked with; we met up over coffee and then just kept meeting up. (You can see \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/tag/nicholls\">past posts about Sally here\u003C/a>, including a photo from 2008 of \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/67130.html\">an airship, stars and some clouds I made for her book launch\u003C/a>.","2011-05-01T12:05:00.000Z","ways-to-live-forever-the-film",[],"ways to live forever: the film!",1776628720079]