Projections 8. This item is unavailable.Projections 8

In reponse to the almost universal drubbing the critics gave The Fifth Element at Cannes, the film's star, Bruce Willis, pronounced: 'Nobody up here pays attentions to reviews . . . most of the written word has gone the way of the dinosaur'.

This issue of Projections takes up the gauntlet laid down by Willis and looks at the position of critics in society today. We ask major critics, here and abroad, what they think about the current state of film criticism; what they think their relationship - and responsibility - is to film and film-makers; what do critics dream about? We also ask film-makers about how they regard the critics. This issue also contains articles and interviews with practioners of film, including a diary for the set of the Coen brothers film, The Big Lebowski, as well as a diary of the making of Wong Kar-wai's award-winning film, Happy Together, by the cameraman Chris Doyle.

John Boorman was born in London in 1933. After working as a film reviewer for magazines and radio, he joined the BBC in 1955 as an assistant editor, and later directed a number of documentaries. His first feature was 'Catch Us If You Can' in 1965. His latest film, Country of My Skull, opens in 2003. He is a five-time Academy Award-nominee, and was twice awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for Leo the Last (1970) and The General (1998). He is the author of Money Into Light: The Emerald Forest - A Diary, as well as the being the co-founder and editor of Faber and Faber's long-running series Projections: Film-makers on Film-making.