Category: fiction

Posted on

OUT OF COMPETITION

Kenneth Patchen Award for the innovative novel

‘Laugh out loud funny’

Carla M. Wilson

5 OUT OF 5 STARS

Intelligent, provocative and fun

Cherry Jam UK, October 16, 2024 Review

Humorously subversive. It goes so fast I read it in two days. A must for anyone with a love of cinema and its festivals. And the most irreverent novel written about the South of France

5 OUT OF 5 STARS

Ten Years is Enough!

Read-fest UK, 9 September 2025

A sharp satire about democracy set in a Riviera Film Festival facing collapse as young cineastes demonstrate against privilege and lack of transparency in the annual voting shakedown, the novel opening with the kidnap off the streets of a desperate bankrupt Hollywood producer cadging money wherever he can

Out of Competition Ingram distributing, found at:

JEF Books

https://www.experimentalfiction.com/products/out-of-competition

Bookshop.org, bricks & mortar bookstores and online booksellers

Posted on

Shining a light on Neon

In 2019 the Neon released Korean film Parasite, directed by Boon Joon Ho, won the Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival, going on to be awarded Best Film at the annual Academy Awards. A rare double.

This year another Neon release Fjord won the Palme d’or, this time with another Korean director, Park Chan-wook, a friend of the director of Parasite, as jury president.

Photo during filming of FJORD by Director, Cristian Mungiu

NEON released films have now won all last six Palme d’ors from 2019 to 2026 (Cannes 2020 was cancelled due to Covid. )

Should we be concerned at this winning trend by Neon and should we examine the human connections in the Jury’s choice for 2026?

Critics are divided on Fjord. The Guardian’s film critic, Peter Bradshaw called it ‘a disappointment’ awarding it 2 stars out of 5.

Have juries at the annual Cannes festival ever been corrupted?

Are Cannes juries ever influenced by outside forces?

In my novel Out of Competition democracy is used in a one view, one vote method of choosing festival winners in that other famous Côte d’Azur event, the Renne-Sur-Mer Film Festival.

Is a democratic vote a better way of choosing?

Posted on

Out of Competition – a novel for Cannes?

This is not Cannes. Or the Cannes Film Festival. Let me say that upfront. It’s Renne-Sur-Mer, a far better film festival by the way, a film festival not many get to see because they are blinded by the tinsel razzle-dazzle of Cannes’ annual event, or so it seems.

I documented a year in Renne-Sur-Mer’s historical progress when some unfortunate things happened. It was sad and bit funny at times. But was it fair to portray Renne in such a, well, dubious light. I can say I documented what happened. You work it out. What year was it. You know I can’t remember but it wasn’t that long ago in the future. Here’s ten pages to give you an idea of how chaotic festivals can be when the wheels fly off.

OUT OF COMPETITION a reading sampleDownload
Posted on

The Big Takeover

Where will we get critique and truth if Larry Ellison gets his way?

The Ellison take over is analysed by Forbes. Does he have the money? It seems not. So what is the mega deal all about? Control of free speech for people, news and creative products and outlets.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2026/02/27/what-paramount-warner-bros-merger-means-for-larry-ellisons-fortune/

Watching the Meidas Touch coverage Youtube on Larry Ellison’s current take over of so much in Los Angeles film and other communication media I remember reading Exposure and then seeing the film of it Dark Waters and how important it is to have books, news and drama that are brave enough to stand up for truth and bring corporations to account. I was deeply impressed by the book and the film.

Exposure and Dark Waters took on DuPont’s production and sale of teflon, and the pollution of the forever PFAs chemicals used in the industrial process that affects us all. Effectively it meant death to many Americans and their livestock in Ohio and West Virginia as DuPont’s killer chemicals seeped into the rivers and water supplies. The effects were devastating.