The Counterfeiters

Amanda with Karl Markovics and Stefan Ruzowitzky

This week, The Fabulous Picture Show hosts a special screening of The Counterfeiters, an exciting action-drama based on the true story of the most notorious counterfeiting operation in history. As the war turned against the Nazis, they recruited from amongst the prisoners of their concentration camps a team of printing and forgery experts to create perfect copies of the British pound and American dollar. 

The Counterfeiters focuses on Salomon Sorowitsch, a career criminal known as one of the world’s greatest counterfeiters. Tempting him and a group of others with increased food rations and softer accommodations, the Nazis manage to co-opt the desperate men into fraudulently replenishing the coffers of the Nazi war machine in exchange for their lives.   

Director Stefan Ruzowitsky and actor Karl Markovics, who portrays Salomon, join Amanda Palmer to talk about not only their artistic approach but also the moral issues raised by the film.

Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises

It is London Film Festival time, and kicking it all off is the highly regarded latest film by David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises. In the film, Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings, A History of Violence) plays a ruthless Russian gangster in London. French star Vincent Cassel plays the loose-cannon son of Mortensen’s boss. Naomi Watts plays an innocent midwife whose attempt to do a good deed puts her afoul of Mortensen, Cassel and their cronies. We interview Cronenberg and Cassel on the afternoon of their big premiere.

Howard Shore

Composer Howard Shore

Howard Shore is one of those “behind the scenes” talents who have stealthily compiled an awe-inspiring body of work over the years.  He has composed soundtracks for 12 films by David Cronenberg (including Eastern Promises), as well as long-time collaborations with Martin Scorsese (including The Aviator and The Departed), Jonathan Demme (The Silence of The Lambs) and Tim Burton. We join him for a Master Class in film composing, and look back at his 30 years on the pointy end of the film-composers’ pyramid.

Kibera Kid

Ignatius Juma in Kibera Kid

The Fabulous Picture Show travels to the ragged, rubbish-strewn outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya – to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. Taking us on a tour of Kibera is Ignatius Juma, the 12-year-old star of Kibera Kid, an award-winning short film shot in the heart of this incredible place. Director Nathan Collett and his team of locally recruited talent are currently hard at work preparing to convert the success of Kibera Kid into a feature film. Despite the tribulations of life in Kibera, we see genuine hope in the faces – and lives – of the people Ignatius encounters.

Watch Part One here:

Watch Part Two here:

This episode of The Fabulous Picture Show was broadcasted at the following times GMT:

Saturday 20th October 14:30, 22:30; Sunday 21st October 02:30, 12:30; Monday 22nd  October 00:30, 07:30; Tuesday 23rd October 06:00, 13:30; Wednesday 24th October 11:30, 19:30; Thursday 25th October 05:30 Friday 26th October 03:00, 16:30; Saturday 27th October 06:30